Elections a battle between unity and hatred: Rahul

Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "lying all day in his speeches", Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday termed the coming Lok Sabha elections a battle between the Congress' idea of unity and the BJP-RSS' ideology of "divisiveness and hatred".

"We have the general elections in the country before us within a few days. It is a battle of two ideologies. At one end is the Congress and on the other side is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Narendra Modi.

"We work to unite the nation and try to bring people together by talking about love and brotherhood, while the BJP-RSS spread hatred wherever it goes. It makes people of different religions and language fight against each other," Gandhi said while addressing a large gathering at the Kolom Bagan ground here in Malda district.

Training his guns on Modi, Gandhi claimed that the Prime Minister was a "chowkidar" (watchman) for the rich and corrupt in the country, who didn't care about the woes of the common people.

"Modi ji keeps lying all day during his speeches. He will lie about something or the other wherever he goes. He is the 'chowkidar' of the rich and corrupt such as Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Mehul Choksi," he alleged.

"Modi has waived the loan of 15 people worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore in the last five years. But when the farmers of the country wanted loan waiver, Modi, (Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley and (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee refused," Gandhi said, clubbing the Trinamool Congress supremo with the BJP leaders.

Referring to the Congress' victory in the Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections in December last year, Gandhi said the party's governments kept their promise of waiving farm loans in all the three states within 10 days of coming to power.

He also attacked Modi on issues like demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), claiming that such moves destroyed the income potential of many people.

"The Prime Minister has created the highest amount of unemployment in the country during his reign of last five years," the Congress President said.

--IANS

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