Camp: Balasinor, Gujarat

Date: 11th March, 2014

Time: 4 pm

Rahul Gandhi talks on BJP, says Gujarat is shining only for handful of industrialists

Balasinor: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on BJP and Gujarat Government led by

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. While addressing a huge Congress rally at Balasinor as part of his Lok Sabha

poll campaign in Gujarat, the party voice President said that Gujarat is shining only for a handful of industrialists.

“The state government forcibly grabbed lands of poor farmers here. Did anyone could get a job? Thousands of acres of land

were taken but there is no employment. The below poverty line figure is pegged at Rs. 11 in Gujarat but it is being publicised in

the other regions of the country that Gujarat is shining. Kids die of malnutrition but BJP claims that Gujarat is shining. Yes, I

agree, Gujarat is Gujarat is indeed shining but only for 10-15 rich industrialists and corporate houses; not for the poor, the

women and the youth here” said Rahul Gandhi.

Attacking further the BJP and RSS, the Congress Vice President referred to the move of Modi government to build a huge statue

of Sardar Patel and said “Sardar Patel had said that the ideology of RSS is poisonous which would kill the very soul of our nation.

As I had said earlier, the BJP leaders spend most of their life with the RSS but never bother to know what Patel ji had said about

RSS”.

“BJP leaders also talk about our rich tradition and culture. But they do not read history or mythology. They do not read Gita or

similar books in which it is clearly written about our ideology. It has mentioned about our rich tradition of loving all, respecting

all, brotherhood and about the necessity to take everyone along without any discrimination” he said further and added, “Now

BJP wants to finish Congress but they never think who had formed the Congress party. It was Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi

who made the Congress party. By saying that they want to remove Congress, BJP wants to remove Gandhi ji and Patel ji. It wants

to kill an ideology for which Gandhi ji and Patel ji had stood for throughout their life; and now, they want to build a statue of

Sardar Patel!”

“There are two types of leaders. One who think people are wise and you can learn from them, like Mahatma Gandhi. He goes to

them, asks them and learns from them. The thinking of this kind of leader is that it is the people who are repository of

knowledge. Such a leader wants to understand people and has no pride. They realise that people possess the knowledge and

have a mindset to learn from them. That is why Gandhi ji had gone to the people during Dandi march. They never show

arrogance” said Rahul Gandhi and then went on further, “Then there is another kind of leader, whose best example is perhaps

Hitler. Hitler thought there was no need to go to people. Hitler never realised the power of the people. He had believed that

people possess no knowledge. He always thought that he was the epitome of knowledge. Such leaders need not go to the

people. They just deliver big speeches, make huge claims and make tall promises. We need such leaders who realise that it is the

people who put in their efforts for development”.

“BJP has no ideology, no revolutionary thinking. They have only anger, which they will give you and pit you against one another.

We do not have any anger. We only have love and affection. We believe in the strength of our people” asserted Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress leader also slammed the BJP for blocking the anti-people moves of the Congress-led UPA Government at the

Centre and said “In the last ten years of the UPA government regime at the Centre, we provided jobs to 5 lakh rural poor by

MNREGA. We are guaranteeing food to about 80 crore people through the Food Security Act. But remember, when we were

introducing these schemes, the BJP had opposed the move and said that such policies are a wastage of funds. When your land is

taken away and something is snatched from you, then there is no waste. But it is wastage for them when you are given

something, when the poor is given something.”

“The leaders from BJP talk about corruption. Three Ministers in Gujarat have gone to jail in corruption cases but they were not

removed from the state cabinet. There was no Lokayukta in Gujarat till the Supreme Court intervened. Despite these, BJP

leaders roam around and talk loud against corruption” said Rahul Gandhi exposing BJP’s double-speak on corruption.

Later Rahul Gandhi also interacted with the salt pan workers in the state.

Full text of the speech of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi at public rally in Balasinore, Guajarat

Gujarat has given a lot to the country. The white revolution was the gift of Gujarat women. It is the Gujarat who gave Gandhi ji

and Sardar Patel ji to the nation as well as for the Congress party. They were not just two individuals, but an ideology. The

ideology was to unite all Indians. They knew that only a united India can beat the British.

Nowadays, BJP and its leaders talk a lot about Gandhi ji, Sardar Patel ji and white revolution. They are now building a huge

statue of Sardar Patel ji. It is good; we need to build a statue of Patel ji. But, they must have gone through our history, at least a

bit, though not fully, to know more about Sardar Patel. We do not need a PhD or Masters Degree but atleast they should have

read 10-15 pages of our history. They must have read about Patel ji’s life, his vision and his thoughts, before building a statue

for him.

It is surprising that it was the same BJP which had opposed naming of Ahmedabad Airport after Sardar Patel ji and had waved

black flags against it. BJP leaders spent their whole life in RSS and so they also must have tried to gather information on what

had Sardar Patel ji had said about RSS. If they are not ready to read history, let me tell BJP what he had said about RSS.

Sardar Patel had said that the ideology of RSS is poisonous which would kill the very soul of our nation. As I had said earlier, the

BJP leaders spend most of their life with the RSS but never bother to know what Patel ji had said about RSS.

BJP leaders also talk about our rich tradition and culture. But they do not read history or mythology. They do not read Gita or

similar books in which it is clearly written about our ideology. It has mentioned about our rich tradition of loving all, respecting

all, brotherhood and about the necessity to take everyone along without any discrimination.

This has been the ideology of the Congress party. Now BJP wants to finish Congress but they never think who had formed the

Congress party. It was Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi who made the Congress party. By saying that they want to remove

Congress, BJP wants to remove Gandhi ji and Patel ji. It wants to kill an ideology for which Gandhi ji and Patel ji had stood for

throughout their life; and now, they want to build a statue of Sardar Patel.. Very surprising!

BJP tries to take all credits for Gujarat development. But when I was seven years old and was going for tuitions, I used to see the

poster of Amul. It was the people, the women under the guidance of leaders like Patel Ji developed Gujarat. The co-operative

movement had a big contribution for Gujarat’s progress for which the women had a pivotal role. This is the reality behind

Gujarat’s development.

They say that Congress ruled India for the past 60 years. What has been done in 60 years, BJP claims it can do in it in sixty

months. This is a mockery of the people as what has happened in the last seven decades is because of the people. If India is

progressing, that is because of the hard work of crores of our people. If Gujarat is developed, it is due to the blood and sweat of

its people. Everyone, Hindu, Sikhs, Muslims, rich and the poor- all contributed for it.

It is the fashion for the BJP to propagate that that one man does all the development. They think “Appoint them as watchmen,

corruption will end on its own”. India has witnessed many of such chowkidars. The British also tried to act as a big watch man.

We threw them out. We do not need a particular person as watch man; we need to be guarded by the people of this country.

What the people need is to get their rights, to enjoy their powers. This is what Congress intends to do. We want the people be

the security guard of their homes, as well as of our nation. We want to empower all; not one person.

What kind of chowkidari is happening in Gujarat? Lakhs of acres of land are being taken away from the farmers and being given

to industrialists. When farmers say something, their voice is ignored. This is not chowkeedari, but chori (robbing). Is stealing land

from the poor considered safeguarding their interests? Is that what a watchman does?

This is the difference between BJP and the Congress. We respect our leaders and we never worship leaders of BJP or RSS. There

is no shortage of leaders in Congress like Gandhi ji, Patel ji, who strengthened Congress and gave us democracy. Further we are

determined to accomplish our task, once a decision has been taken.

When Rajiv Ji was introducing computers, senior BJP leaders had raised objections by swaying that it will kill jobs. They were

having the opinion that computers would be harmful for farmers, the youth and for development. But Rajiv Ji and Sam Pitroda ji

went ahead with computerization and telecom moves. And after ten years, the same BJP leaders who had opposed these moves,

claimed credit for computer revolution. BJP had opposed the Amul co-operative movement also when Congress had initiated it.

But today, BJP claims credit for Amul movement too! After 10 years from now, leaders from BJP will come and say that they had

brought MNREGA and Right to Food.

BJP has no ideology, no revolutionary thinking. They have only anger, which they will give you and pit you against one another.

We do not have any anger. We only have love and affection. We believe in the strength of our people. We know Gujarat will

stand on its feet if its people are adequately empowered; India will develop.

The state government forcibly grabbed lands of poor farmers here. Did anyone could get a job? Thousands of acres of land were

taken but there is no employment. The below poverty line figure is pegged at Rs. 11 in Gujarat but it is being publicised in the

other regions of the country that Gujarat is shining. Kids die of malnutrition but BJP claims that Gujarat is shining. Yes, I agree,

Gujarat is Gujarat is indeed shining but only for 10-15 rich industrialists and corporate houses; not for the poor, the women and

the youth here.

In the last ten years of the UPA government regime at the Centre, we provided jobs to 5 lakh rural poor by MNREGA. We are

guaranteeing food to about 80 crore people through the Food Security Act. But remember, when we were introducing these

schemes, the BJP had opposed the move and said that such policies are a wastage of funds. When your land is taken away and

something is snatched from you, then there is no waste. But it is wastage for them when you are given something, when the

poor is given something. India cannot shine, if the houses of its people are not shining.

We also had waived debts of the poor farmers. If we want to transform our country, we must transform the lives of the poor.

We must bring the poor to the middle class group. Now a new class has emerged with the efforts of the UPA government. These

70 crore people, who are above BPL line and below the middle class category have to be brought above into the middle class

group. Our target is to convert them into middle class. This 70 crore people include drivers, security guards, labourers and tea

sellers. We will work more for the welfare of the poor but also will try to uplift this new class.

There are two types of leaders. One who think people are wise and you can learn from them, like Mahatma Gandhi. He goes to

them, asks them and learns from them. The thinking of this kind of leader is that it is the people who are repository of

knowledge. Such a leader wants to understand people and has no pride. They realise that people possess the knowledge and

have a mindset to learn from them. That is why Gandhi ji had gone to the people during Dandi march. They never show

arrogance.

Then there is another kind of leader, whose best example is perhaps Hitler. Hitler thought there was no need to go to people.

Hitler never realised the power of the people. He had believed that people possess no knowledge. He always thought that he

was the epitome of knowledge. Such leaders need not go to the people. They just deliver big speeches, make huge claims and

make tall promises. We need such leaders who realise that it is the people who put in their efforts for development.

If Gujarat is developed, it is because of its people, its women and the youth. The entire country must learn from the women

here how they established Amul. The leaders here must go to its people, workers and the women to learn from them.

The job of a leader is not to give speeches but to listen to people. That is what my effort has been. I want to listen to you,

understand you. This is what the UPA government did in last ten years. The UPA Government at the Centre always listened to its

people and framed policies accordingly.

We brought land acquisition bill when you said that your voice is not heard in land acquisition.

I had gone to Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh where the lands of poor farmers were grabbed by the state government. The

people complained that the government forcibly acquired their lands without even asking. We fought for them and as a result

now we have this Land bill. The BJP had blocked the bill for two years; but we got it passed.

The leaders from BJP talk about corruption. Three Ministers in Gujarat have gone to jail in corruption cases but they were not

removed from the state cabinet. There was no Lokayukta in Gujarat till the Supreme Court intervened. Despite these, BJP

leaders roam around and talk loud against corruption.

It was the Congress which implemented RTI and Lokpal. There are six anti-graft bills are pending in Parliament but BJP is not

letting its passage. They will go to Chhattisgarh and will deliver speeches against corruption. Why don’t you tell your Chief

Minister. They will say the same thing in Karnataka. Why did they bring back a (former) Chief Minister, who faced corruption

charges? Why BJP had made the two brothers (Reddy), who had looted the entire state of Karnataka, ministers. We always

took action wherever we noticed corruption.

I want to assure you one thing. We will never do our marketing with people’s money.

What we want to do is empowering our people. We want to give equal power to women, in Parliament or Assemblies. We

realise the power of our women. They not only run their homes but our nation too. India can never become a super power if we

fail to empower our women which constitute 50% of our population. So we must give more power to the women and to the

youth.

We have initiated the industrial corridor project - Delhi – Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai and Delhi – Kolkata. This proposed corridor

will boost the industries and once it is completed lakhs of youth will have employment opportunities. The states like Gujarat,

Rajasthan and Maharashtra will have benefits out of this. May be, tomorrow, BJP will take credit for this too.

Thank you.