Samana (Punjab): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Chinese had dared to enter India and kill our soldiers because the Narendra Modi government had weakened our nation with its anti-national policies and actions, of which the Farm Laws were the latest example.
China had realised that Modi had weakened India, and had taken advantage of this to take control of 1200 kms of our land, said Rahul, asserting that the Prime Minister had broken the backbone of the country, whose economic growth had plummeted from 9% under Dr Manmohan Singh to -24% at present. Accusing Modi of ruining the country to help his capitalist and industrialist friends, Rahul said India was going backwards, which the Chinese had seen.
“Why else would China dare enter our territory? How could they kill 20 of our soldiers, who were on our side of the LAC, if the Chinese did not enter India, as Modi claims?”, asked Rahul, warning the people that they could shut their eyes to these facts at their own peril.
Quoting Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji, who said one cannot hide from the truth, Rahul said if we do not face the truth today, we will suffer. Pointing that Guru Nanak Dev ji showed the path of truth, he exhorted the people, particularly the farmers, to follow his path. “You cannot escape,” he said, adding that the farmers of Punjab were no ordinary people, but were the backbone of the nation.
“Why are you quiet? Why is Haryana quiet? Why are the Lions of Punjab not roaring?” Rahul called out to the people, urging them to rise against the Centre’s tyranny and asserting that he was with them every step of the way.
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“If Modi does not realise the power of the farmers and the poor, we will together show him this power,” said Rahul, declaring that he was not afraid of the BJP government at the Centre. He also castigated the Modi government for controlling the media through the corporate houses and thus stifling all voices of dissent.
Rahul, along with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, was addressing a rally here on the last leg of Day 2 of their `Kethi Bachao Yatra’ in Punjab.
Warning the farmers against the dangerous designs of the Narendra Modi government, as part of a deliberate and malicious agenda to destroy their lives to promote the interests of a handful of industrialists, Rahul said the Prime Minister was only interested in helping out 3-4 of his industrialist friends. He does not care for the people, said Rahul, recalling the plight of the migrants during the lockdown period, and the crisis triggered by demonetisation and GST. Rs 3.50 lakh crore in loans were waived off for industrialists after demonetisation, and even amid COVID, they were being given incentives while the poor were only getting subsidies, he said.
Nailing the Prime Minister’s lie on COVID, Rahul reminded the people that Modi had claimed the war against the pandemic would be won in 22 days. “Has it happened? If so, then why are people wearing masks?” he asked.
The Chief Minister said the future of agriculture itself was at stake because of the farm laws, which the government sitting in Delhi had forced on the farmers and the states. The small farmers, constituting 70% of the farming community, would be totally ruined, he warned.
Vowing not to let the farming community come to any harm come what may, the Chief Minister said the state and its farmers faced a long-drawn battle and exhorted the farmers to be ready for a long and difficult struggle.
Lambasting the Modi government for discriminating Punjab and its farmers, who had always been at the forefront to protect India and its people, Captain Amarinder pointed out that even during the COVID pandemic, it was these farmers who ensured that nobody went hungry. He warned that the Farm Laws would destroy the Mandi Board and bring all rural development to a standstill, and would end the PDS system as the Adanis and Ambanis will not care one bit for the poor.
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Rahul and Capt Amarinder later went around the Grain Market to interact with the farmers and Arhtiyas and assured them that the Congress Party would fight for their rights.
AICC general secretary Harish Rawat, PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar, Punjab Mandi Board Chairman Lal Singh, MLA Rajinder Singh along with several cabinet ministers, MPs and MLAs of Punjab Congress were present at the rally at the Grain Market in Samana, which witnessed a huge turnout of angry farmers, labourers and Arhtiyas, along with hundreds of ordinary people.
Prominent among others present Cabinet Ministers Brahm Mohindra, Sadhu Singh Dharmsot, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi and Vijay Inder Singla, MP Gurjit Singh Aujala, MLAs Hardyal Kamboj, Madan Lal Jalalpur, Nirmal Singh, Kuljit Singh Nagra and Indu Malhotra, Punjab Women Social Welfare Board Chairperson Gursharan Kaur Randhwa and Punjab Youth Congress President Brinder Dhillon.
(with inputs from IANS)
