COIMBATORE: Kick-starting his election campaign for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections at Coimbatore, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the state needs a new way of thinking and a new government.
“Tamil Nadu in the past has shown successful manufacturing and industrialisation. There is a lot that the rest of India can learn from the people of Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately, Tamil Nadu itself has
fallen backwards. Tamilians are today finding it hard to get a job. Tamil farmers are struggling today. That is why we want to work with you to give you a government you would be proud of,” Rahul Gandhi added.
He further said, “I have committed to you that I will come to Tamil Nadu, listen to the people and will work with them to help you get a government that you deserve. I will be talking to small
industrialists, farmers, labourers, workers, students to try and understand what it is that the Congress party can do to work with you.”
Launching a sharp attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi said, “Currently in India we are involved in a fight with a particular ideology that believes that only one culture, one
language, one idea should rule India. Modi has no respect for the culture, the language and the people of Tamil Nadu. He thinks that the Tamil people, Tamil language and Tamil culture should be subservient to his ideas and culture. His perception and view of India is that the people of Tamil Nadu should be second class citizens in this country.”
“We feel that there are multiple different languages, multiple histories, multiple cultures in this country. We feel all languages, Tamil, Hindi, Bengali, English, all of them have a space in this
country. That is the central fight between Narendra Modi and us,” he added.
He further said, “Narendra Modi partners with three or four big businessmen in this country, provides them media and money. Modi, one by one, is selling everything which belongs to the people of India and people of Tamil Nadu. What belongs to the farmers are now taken away by the three new farm laws. The farmers are going to be made servants of the biggest industrialists. That is why we are fighting the government and supporting the farmers.”
Thanking the public for the wonderful welcome to him, he said, “It is always an honour and a pleasure for me to come to this wonderful place.” He added, "My relationship with the people of Tamil Nadu is not a political relationship. It is a family relationship, a relationship of blood."