Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the motive of demonetisation and lockdown was to destroy small farmers, businesses and labourers and took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that he can't compete with him in speaking lies.
Addressing a rally in Balmiki Nagar, the Congress leader said that now the Prime Minister does not say in speeches that he will give jobs to two crore youth.
"He knows he was lying and people also know it. I guarantee, if Prime Minister comes here and says he will give two crore jobs, the crowd will chase him away. Congress gave direction to the country. We gave MNREGA, waived off farmers' loans," he said.
"We know how to run the country, stand with farmers and generate employment, but yes, we do lack one thing - we don't know how to lie. We cannot compete with him (PM) at speaking lies... I want to see a day when people come to Patna in search of jobs," he added.
The former Congress chief accused the government of favouring big industrialists.
"The motive of demonetisation and lockdown was the same. It was aimed at destroying small farmers, labourers, small businesses, traders and labourers," he alleged.
"You deposited your money in the bank after demonetisation. Using your money, Modi waived Rs 3,50,000 crore loan of India's biggest industrialists. In the lockdown, he did the same and waived their loans and give them a tax rebate," he added.
Continuing his tirade, he said that it is a reality that youth can't get jobs in Bihar.
"You can't jobs in Bihar. This is reality. There is no problem with farmers and youth of the state. There is a problem with your CM Nitish Kumar and PM. They don't tell you the truth. Modi promised 2 crore jobs every year," he said.
"You have seen lakhs of Bihar labourers returned to the state during the lockdown. This is election time, you should not forget that. There was no bus and railways. Modi forced you to cover the journey on foot... On Dusshera, Modi's effigies were burnt in Punjab. I feel pained. But farmers and youth have anger against him," he added.
Voting began on 71 constituencies spread across 16 districts in the first phase of Bihar Assembly elections on Wednesday at 7 am. Polling for the second phase to take place on November 3 and for the third phase on November 7.
The results will be declared followed by counting of votes on November 10.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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