Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi | (Photo: PTI)
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise not only for the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg district but also for demonetisation, anti-farmer bills and GST.
Modi should apologise to each and every citizen of Maharashtra for the insult caused to the legendary 17th century warrior king when the statue at Rajkot Fort collapsed on August 26, he added.
The Congress leader was addressing a public meeting here after inaugurating a life-size statue of the party’s late leader Patangrao Kadam. While the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government in Maharashtra was coming under fire for toppling the Shivaji Maharaj statue, the chief minister during his subsequent visit to the state said he was apologetic to the iconic king, his “deity”, and also to the people whose sentiments were hurt. “I want to ask the prime minister what he regrets, whether it is because the contract to make the Shivaji statue was given to an RSS person who had no merit, or because of the corruption in the process,” Gandhi said.
The Congress leader added that Modi should answer why all the contracts are given only to “Adani and Ambani” and why he was running the government only for “two people”. The prime minister has not apologised for the “anti-farmer laws” which were later withdrawn due to protests, he added, and demanded that Modi apologise for demonetisation and “wrong” goods and services tax. Modi did not visit Manipur, which is facing a civil war-like situation as the BJP itself has set the northeastern state on fire, Gandhi claimed. Small and medium enterprises were being wiped out for the benefit of “two people”, he said, adding that the Adani and Ambani groups cannot generate employment. The late Patangrao Kadam dedicated his life to the Congress party, Maharashtra and the country, and worked for the development and spread of education, the Raebareli MP said. When Indira Gandhi lost the Lok Sabha elections, Kadam supported her and organised a public meeting even at 2 am, Gandhi said. Maharashtra has always been a progressive state, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Dr BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Jyotirao Phule showed the progressive path from which everyone draws inspiration, he said. “The ideology of these towering personalities is the same as that of the Congress. Maharashtra has the foundation and DNA of the Congress ideology. Today’s politics is a fight between two ideologies. We want social progress and to take everyone with us, while the BJP wants development of a select few,” Gandhi said.
The BJP wanted the caste structure to remain the same, to finish the Constitution, to take over the Election Commission, educational institutions, legal system and bureaucracy, the opposition leader said. “The only merit needed to join these institutions is to be a member of the RSS,” he said.
Reiterating his demand for a caste census, he said it would provide a snapshot of how many people there are in different social strata and their share in the country’s wealth and decision-making.
“But the BJP says no. Now the RSS has said that caste census is necessary… The Congress and the INDIA bloc will ensure that caste census is conducted at any cost. We need to understand the truth, who benefits from the wealth of the country,” he said. In another slam on Modi for apologising for the toppling of Shivaji statue, Gandhi said Patangrao Kadam worked for 60 years with transparency, love and genuine efforts but never asked for forgiveness. “You ask for forgiveness when you make a mistake,” Gandhi added.
The Kadam statue will remain standing for the next 50-70 years, he said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in his address said the toppling of Shivaji Maharaj statue was an insult to the state and the country. “The Kadam statue has been made by Ram Sutar, who is an accomplished sculptor,” he said. The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi was ready to fight unitedly in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, Kharge said, adding that “all the real leaders of the NCP and the Shiv Sena are with us, the fake ones are on the other side.” If the BJP loses Maharashtra, the Modi government will also be in danger, the Congress chief said while appealing to people not to get lured by the state government’s Ladki Bahin scheme for women.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: September 5, 2024 | 17:58 IS
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