Congress to organise rally in Delhi on April 29

With almost a year left for the next general elections, Congress has decided to reach out to people through a "national rally" here on April 29 to pin down the Narendra Modi government on a range of issues including bank frauds, 'dilution' of SC/ST Act, inflation and problem of unemployment.

This could also be seen as a way to reach out to the people after the "washed out" budget session of Parliament, where the party could not raise these issues.

"To represent the feelings of the poeple of the country, we have decided to organise a national rally at the Ramlila Maidan here on April 29," said party General Secretary Ashok Gehlot.

The decision was taken at a meeting of all the states' incharges and the General Secretaries.

"Looking at the current situation in the country, we feel that people are frustrated, every society and community are stifled.

"There is an atmosphere of fear, hatred, mistrust and violence. (Congress President) Rahul Gandhi had said that in a democracy, politics should be done with love, feeling of tolerance and non-violence," said Gehlot.

He said that the rally will be organised keeping in mind the current atmosphere which has been created after NDA government came to power. "False promises have been made, they had spoken about Achhe Din.

"In four years, no community has felt that good days have arrived. Every community is in pain and fear. Businesses have been affected, economic situation is in doldrums," he said, adding that institutions like the judiciary, Parliament, the RBI, ED, CBI, Income Tax are being weakened and misused.

"Even Election Commission is not spared...," he said.

The former Rajasthan Chief Minister also pointed out the problems of inflation and hike in petrol and diesel prices.

"Nothing has been done about 2 crore jobs to youth. It became a big issue in Gujarat election too. They don't have any reply to this.

"They had spoken about skill development, Digital India..no scheme has been implemented. They had promised smart cities, not a single has been built," he said.

--IANS

sid/vd