Dehradun: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi yesterday accused the BJP of practising “politics of blood” by dividing people along religious and caste lines, and said his party will bring a legislation granting the poor the right to health services.
Addressing a rally here, Rahul sought to woo women, youth and poor as he criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for practising self-centred politics.
Though he did not name any party, Rahul said people in the opposition did not feel pain of people.
“They do politics by making people fight each other, slay each other... (They) practise politics of blood. They only want power. This is the difference between them and us. We want to give you power. They want to give you lectures, take away your power,” he said. “Politics means removing pain of others. There is no place for anger, arrogance in it. I have understood this in 10 years,” he said.
Targeting the Gujarat chief minister without naming him, Rahul said the state made progress due to work of all its people, including women, youth and tribals. “He (Modi) thinks ‘I have built Gujarat’,” Gandhi said.
The Congress leader also raised questions about Modi’s anti-corruption credentials, saying the chief minister appointed a Lokayukta in Gujarat only after a judicial order.
“There is still one man in Gujarat who does not come under Lokayukta. All others are under it,” Rahul said in an apparent reference to Modi.
He accused the BJP of not cooperating with the government in the passage of pending anti-corruption bills in parliament.
“I spoke about them in the media. Our leaders spoke to their leaders. They are silent... We will try to bring them in ordinance form,” Rahul said.
The Congress leader also spoke about allegations of corruption faced by former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and accused the BJP of “not seeing” corruption in the party-ruled states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
“They only see power. They can do anything for power, make Hindus fight against Muslims, pitch one caste against the other,” Gandhi said.
In an apparent reference to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Rahul said a BJP leader, who later became party president and prime minister, had opposed computers when former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi sought to encourage their use.
He said the BJP now claims to have initiated the telecom revolution. “They do not have any vision. They do not have long-term thinking,” Rahul said.
He said rights-based legislations brought by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, including the right to food, have ensured security for people.
“Now we will bring the right to health,” he said.
IANS
