Ghaziabad, With hundreds of activists holding Congress flags and shouting “Chowkidar Chor Hai”, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Friday urged people to get “serious about politics” as it was a serious issue.
Gandhi’s road show in support of party’s candidate Dolly Sharma here started from Jawahar Gate and continued for about two kilometres before ending on Ambedkar Road in Nehru Nagar.
“It is in your hand if you want to do politics of caste or politics where your representatives work for you earnestly,” she said. “A representative who will help you to raise your voice or one who will beat you up for speaking.
“Those in power (right now) have never let people raise their issues, be it farmers or others.”
Priyanka Gandhi asked people to question those who come to them seeking votes.
“No one is doing a favour by working for you… You are superior, not the leaders… Those in power have forgotten that you have the power. You have let them forget that you are superior.”
She slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not talking to people even in his constituency Varanasi while “he roamed around the world hugging people”.
“Every time he went to Varanasi, he gave only speeches, never went to a single house to meet people.”
Speaking to IANS, Priyanka Gandhi said the Modi government has repeatedly lied to the people on various fronts.
“He (Modi) always says Nehru did this, Indira did that. Can he speak about what he has done in the five years? After being in power for five years, he has nothing to count as his achievement,” she said.
Gandhi received a boisterous welcome during the road show.
Gandhi, the party in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, stood with Dolly Sharma in her car with the sunroof open, while constantly waving at people.
She stepped out of her car to meet a group of women standing outside their house. One of them was 18-year-old Shivangi Gupta.
“I told her about the congestion in the area and lack of security. I also told her that the area is not usually this clean. It was only because she was coming that it is clean,” Gupta told IANS after speaking to Gandhi.
The Congress is campaigning hard to give a tough fight to BJP’s sitting MP and 2019 candidate from Ghaziabad V.K. Singh, a former Army chief, for the elections to be held on April 11.