New Delhi, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra here on Wednesday hit out at the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for attempting to destroy the Constitution and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for just remodelling the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government’s works.
Seeking vote for Congress candidates from the Matia Mahal constituency Haroon Yusuf and the Chandani Chowk seat Alka Lamba on the penultimate day of poll campaining, Priyanka Gandhi said, “They (BJP) want to destroy the Constitution. They just talk about violence.”
Stating that as elections approach such slogans surface, Priyanka Gandhi, addressing her second meeting for the February 8 Delhi Assembly polls, said, “Which kind of politics is this.” They were just talking about violence and destruction, she added.
Hitting out at Modi and Kejriwal, she said, “The Prime Minister says a lot of things and raises several issues. But he never says he spent Rs 5,200 crore on advertisements. Kejriwal is not far behind Modi. He spent Rs 611 crore on advertisements.”
Stating that Modi had ruined the economy and businesses through GST (goods and services tax) and demonetisation, the Congress leader said he never talked about the 45-year high unemployment rate, loss of 3.5 crore jobs in 7 sectors and sale of PSUs.
Taking on the BJP’s nationalism plank, Priyanka Gandhi said those who worked for the country raised the ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’, ‘Roti Kapda aur Makan’ like slogans, but they were shouting ‘Goli Maro’, ‘Khoon se tilak karo’, ‘Bolo nahi goli se baat karo’. “Are these slogans meant to connect the country,” she asked.
She also raised the issue of police atrocities on people protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in UP. The Modi government wanted to destroy “the garden of India” by ruining its flowers and fruits, and dividing people, the senior Congress leader said
She said a boy was shot dead in Bijnore during the anti-CAA stir and a girl, set to be married, was beaten mercilessly by the police. She also accused the government of suppressing the voice of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) students for protesting.
Taking on the opponents, Priyanka said they failed to make new roads in Delhi in the last five years. “I got late to reach here as I was stuck in traffic. I should have taken the Metro built by (former Chief Minister) Sheila Dikshit to reach on time.”
Highlighting the Dikshit government’s achievements, she said during the Congress rule between 1998 to 2013, 78 new flyovers and 5,000 km new roads were built, 36 schools and 21 hospitals (22,000 new beds), 10 colleges, four universities and 602 dispensaries were set up and also 1,500 unathorised colonies were regularised.
She accused the Kejriwal government of refurbishing the three-time Chief Minister’s works. “Kejriwal claims he worked a lot to develop Delhi, but the reality is he has not anything,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
The votes for the 70-member Assembly will be counted on February 11.
