Modi's comments on Manmohan Singh unacceptable: Rahul Gandhi

He said while the seaplane ride was a good event, PM Modi is trying duck some serious questions

Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said while the language used by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar for Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot be tolerated, what the PM said about his predecessor Manmohan Singh was also “unacceptable”.

“I have made my position clear on the issue. I will not tolerate the language that Mani Shankar Aiyar used for the PM. But what the PM said about Manmohan Singh is also not acceptable. Manmohan Singh has devoted his life for the country, has made sacrifices…” Rahul Gandhi said at a press conference in Ahmedabad.

He said his primary objectives as the Congress president would be to strengthen the party organisation, but also “change the nature of political discourse” that has increasingly become “ugly and nasty”. He said the PM has frequently made comments about him that were unsavoury. “But you wouldn’t find me using language that is disrespectful of him. He is our political opponent, but he is also the prime minister of the country,” Rahul Gandhi, who is scheduled to officially take over the reins as the Congress party chief on Saturday, said.

The press conference was a Congress effort to underline how Rahul Gandhi is willing to take questions, while the PM runs away from fielding questions and focusses on “distractions” like travelling in a seaplane.

Rahul Gandhi said the PM’s seaplane ride in the morning was a “good event” but an attempt to distract from the "real issues facing Gujarat" — of poor state of government hospitals, expensive and privatized college education, three million jobless youths in Gujarat, the alleged irregularities in the Rafale fighter jet deal as well as the business dealings of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah.

Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference in Ahmedabad on the last day of campaigning for the Gujarat assembly polls. The second phase of polling, for the remaining 93 of the 182-seats, is scheduled for Thursday. The first phase of polling for 89-seats had taken place on December 9. Earlier, the local administration had rejected permission sought by the Congress as well as the BJP to hold road shows and public meetings in the city, on the last day of campaigning, of their respective top leaders.

On his frequent temple visits, Rahul Gandhi asked whether going to temples was prohibited. On the Gujarat election campaign, Rahul Gandhi said the people of Gujarat can now see the “hollowness” of BJP’s claims. “There is a strong undercurrent. The BJP is rattled. All communities are disgusted with the BJP government,” he said, adding that the Congress in Gujarat has finally discovered its strength and has contested the election unitedly.

Congress’ president-elect said BJP and Modi are scared of facing Parliament, sacred that they would be asked questions on the Rafale deal and Jay Shah’s business dealings and postponed convening the winter session of Parliament. He spoke at length about how the Gujarat model of development, under the BJP government in the state, benefitted a handful of industrialists. He said the Modi government has doled out Rs 6 lakh crore to India’s top 10 industrialists and waived their loans worth Rs 1.3 lakh crore, but refused to ease the debt of farmers.

Rahul Gandhi said the Congress would help MSME sector, small traders and shopkeepers of Gujarat with bank loans. He said Modi government’s “irrational” economic policies, demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) have hurt their businesses.