Congress president Rahul Gandhi today accused the Narendra Modi government of creating hatred and division in the society and betraying farmers as well as youth in the country.
He also alleged that Modi was a "chowkidar" only for a handful of industrialists and not the common man.
Addressing a convention of Mumbai booth-level Congress workers here this evening, he said that the prime minister feels that he can run the country only with his speeches.
"But now, if you observe him closely, there is fear in his voice. There is even more fear in Jay Shah's father (Amit Shah)... and that is why he is going here and there," he said in an apparent dig at the saffron party's 'contact for support' campaign.
Gandhi expressed confidence that the Congress and the rest of the opposition parties will defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"In the last four years, the Modi government has created hatred and division in the society. Farmers and youth have been betrayed," he said.
"But the youth will have to be given jobs and farmers' interests need to be protected. The prime minister asks what the Congress has done during it rule... Congress didn't threaten and crush anybody. The party did not divide people over caste, religion and colour.
"Congress just saw if the individual was an Indian and it stood by him. Congress united the country," he said.
Gandhi said the BJP scraped through the Gujarat assembly polls and suffered a defeat in the Karnataka elections.
"Now, the party will not be seen after the assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The opposition led by Congress will defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," he claimed.
He said a senior opposition leader recently told him that only the Congress could protect the unity and diversity of India.
"The senior leader told me that he had spent 50 years of his political life fighting against the Congress. But now he has realised that in the battle of ideologies, only the Congress could defeat the BJP and the RSS ideology," he said.
When the voices in the audience asked if the leader was L K Advani, Gandhi said, "No it's not Advani."
Taking a dig at the media, he said, "Write sometimes about Rafale deal, Doklam. I know you and your higherups are under pressure. When the UPA was in power, you wrote about us openly and criticised us fearlessly."
Gandhi began his 30-minutes long speech with a couple of sentences in Marathi: Majha sarvanna namaskar. Apan sagle kase aahat. (My greetings to you. How are you all?)
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