Gandhi lashes out at PM Modi, Shah and Nirmala Sitharaman

In a scathing attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the country was in "trouble" as the "imaginary world" the Prime Minister had created was falling apart.

Gandhi did not spare Home minister Amit Shah and Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman either and took potshots at them during his hectic tour of the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, which he represents.

He lashed out at Sitharaman, saying she was "incompetent", not aware of what was happening around her and had the "arrogance" to say she does not eat onions or garlic.

The congress leader, who is on a three-day visit to Wayanad, said his party will oppose the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill aimed at providing citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

His statement comes as the bill, which has created strong resentment in the Northeastern states, is set to be tabled in Parliament.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were "living in their own imagination" and have no contacts with the outside world, Gandhi said in Kozhikode as he embarked on his tour of Wayanad, addressing a series of his party-led United Democratic Front (UDF) meetings and opened a science block of a local school here.

Replying to a query on the government's claim that there was no financial crisis in the country, Gandhi said: "Mr Amit Shah and Mr Narendra Modi live in their own imagination.They have no contact with the outside world.

They live in their own world and they fantasise about things. That is why the country is in such trouble," Gandhi told reporters.

Taking a jibe at Sitharaman, Gandhi said no one was asking what she ate, but people wanted to know why the economy was struggling.

On Wednesday when asked by an MP if she ate onions, the prices of which had skyrocketed throughout the country, Sitharaman had said "I belong to a family which does not eat onion and garlic."
The Congress leader also made it clear that he would not be cowed down by the string of cases being registered against him by the BJP and considers them as "medals."