Ramnagar (West Champaran), Sept. 19: In his first election rally in the state, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi projected the battle between the NDA and the grand alliance as a fight between "suited booted people" and the poor.
"If the BJP forms a government in Bihar, a few suited-booted friends of Modi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) will come and take over your land. If we win, we will work for the poor and farmers and bring employment for the youth. We want to save Bihar from Modiji's suited booted friends," he told a moderate gathering of 5,000-10,000 people on the Ramnagar Sugar Mill premises, 250km northwest of Patna.
Representatives of the JDU and RJD - two major allies of the Congress - registered a symbolic attendance in the form of JDU national secretary K.C. Tyagi and Lalu Prasad's son Tejaswi Yadav. According to sources, RJD chief Lalu has reservations about sharing the stage with Rahul, who had cold-shouldered him when he went to meet him over Nitish Kumar's acceptance as the chief ministerial face of the grand alliance. Nitish later distanced himself from the rally on the advice of the Congress because they felt that his presence and Lalu's absence would send a wrong message. Nitish, however, received Rahul at Patna airport before the latter proceeded to Ramnagar.
Rahul concentrated his 15-minute speech on attacking Modi. "It is said that he sold tea in a shop. Then he started wearing kurta pyjama. After he became Prime Minister, he began to wear suits. He wore a suit costing Rs 15 lakh. I see his photographs in newspapers. When he holds a meeting on employment, it is with suited-booted people. When he holds talks about farmers it is with suited-booted people. Even when he talks about reducing prices of essential commodities, he sits with the same people. He should be talking to the youth, farmers and the poor to find solutions to their problems. But Modiji just talks to the rich," Rahul said. Modi was the anti-thesis of Mahatma Gandhi, Rahul said. "While the Mahatma shed his suit and donned a dhoti as he led poor farmers, Modi started wearing a Rs 15 lakh suit after becoming Prime Minister."
When the earlier UPA government was bringing in the land acquisition bill, Rahul said he spoke to suit-boot walas (officials). "None of them wanted the bill to be brought. But when I spoke to farmers everyone wanted it," he said.
Rahul also took a dig at Modi's anti-corruption stance. "Modi used to say neither will he engage in corruption nor will he allow anybody to do so ( Naa khaoonga, Naa khaane doonga). He kept on saying it when external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was helping Lalit Modi, when the entire education system was sold out in Madhya Pradesh and the Vyapam scam - in which the chief minister's wife is involved - happened, PDS scam took place in Chhattisgarh. And yet, Prime Minister Modi says he will not allow corruption," Rahul said, adding: "We were providing free medicines in Rajasthan, when there was a Congress government there. Vasundhara Raje's government stopped this. You all know how much money one has to pay in private hospitals."
Projecting the grand secular alliance as "pro-poor and pro-farmer", Rahul said if it came to power, the voice of the weak and poor would be heard and the youth will be given Rs 4 lakh as education loan.
He recalled how Modi had last year promised to open sugar mills in the district. "He said that I and my friends wearing suit-boot would change India. Give two crore new jobs every year, provide 100 per cent enhanced minimum support price to farmers for their produce and would deposit Rs 15 lakh in everyone's account by getting back black money stashed abroad. Tell me whether any of these things have happened," PTI quoted Rahul as asking amid cries of "No, no" from the audience.
He also alluded to the recent controversy in BJP-ruled Maharashtra over making Marathi mandatory for getting a license to ply autos. "When you go to Maharashtra for jobs, you will be turned away," he said.
Rahul spoke about B.R. Ambedkar and Babu Jagjivan Ram's contribution to the Dalits and interacted with Tharu tribes. He said: "Whenever polls approach, the RSS and BJP start pitting one community against the other. They had done so in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar last year and will do so again," and advised people not to fall for it.
Former Speaker Meira Kumar, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, and state Congress chief Ashok Choudhary, too, addressed the rally.
Man held with gun
Police caught a youth carrying an air gun at Rahul's rally. Bagaha superintendent of police Anand Kumar Singh said Tayyab Jaan of Jharmuhi village was caught at the entrance. "He seems to be mentally unstable. We are investigating," Anand said.
