Rahul gives a call for people’s power

Burning issues of Assam ignored

In India, there are two types of leaders. One type gives power to people, while the other type snatches away power from people. I am a leader who does not snatch away power from people. The people’s power must be used for the development of the country. There are politicians who want to have power concentrated at their hands and rule the country. I do not want this. Let people run the country — Rahul Gandhi

Guwahati, February 25: In a speech laden with the characteristic Congress rhetoric pertaining to its ‘‘concern’’ for ‘‘poor people’’, Congress vice–president Rahul Gandhi said that his party was and would always deliver power to the common masses. He was addressing a mega–rally organized by the Assam Congress at Khanapara in Guwahati on Tuesday — the same venue where the BJP showed its strength a few days ago during the visit of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Rahul is on a two–day visit to Assam. His visit is in the aftermath of the self–immolation of a KMSS supporter, Pranab Boro, on Monday as the KMSS was protesting against the State government’s land patta policy. On Tuesday, the KMSS called a 12–hour Guwahati bandh, and amid this Rahul arrived in the city. He immediately left for Diphu and addressed a gathering there.

In the Guwahati mega–rally, it was expected that Rahul would dwell on the burning issues of Assam, such as illegal immigration from Bangladesh, Assam Accord implementation, flood and erosion, growing unemployment etc, but there was no mention of these issues in his speech. Militancy is still on in the State but even this was not mentioned in his speech. There was no mention of the demand of the indigenous people of the State for land rights too.

What was, however, clear in the rally and from Rahul’s speech is that this time the Congress is targeting people who are above poverty level but below middle class for the Lok Sabha elections. In his speech said, Rahul said, ‘‘During the last 10 years, our government has been able to lift about 15 crore people from the below poverty line (BPL) level. This is a remarkable achievement. We shall always be working for the benefit of BPL families. In India, there are about 70 crore people who are above BPL but below middle class. If we come to power this time also, one of our main objectives will be to lift these 70 crore people to middle class.’’

On the issue of security of the people of the Northeast settled in other parts of the country, Rahul cited the case of Nido Tanian, an Arunachali student studying in Delhi, who was recently killed in the national capital. ‘‘We want a strong law to ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future and the security of all migrant citizens within the country is fully guaranteed. All people must feel safe and homely outside their States,’’ he said.

On the other hand, without mentioning the name of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Rahul slammed the BJP indirectly, saying: ‘‘In India, there are two types of leaders. One type gives power to people, while the other type snatches away power from people. I am a leader who does not snatch away power from people. The people’s power must be used for the development of the country. There are politicians who want to have power concentrated at their hands and rule the country. I do not want this. Let people run the country.’’

Elaborating on what he called ‘‘people’s power’’, Rahul said, ‘‘I live in Delhi. It is the people living in villages in Assam who know their problems far better than I do. This is the reason why I am in support of strengthening the panchayati raj system so that power belongs to the people living in rural areas.’’

On the BJP’s promise that it will revolutionize the country in just three months if it comes to power, Rahul said, ‘‘The BJP has said they it will do development work that was not done in the last 70 years in just three months. Leaders from such parties will simply come here and go. In Assam, there was AGP government backed by the BJP at the Centre before we came to power here. The loot perpetrated by both these parties on the people is something that did not happen even in the last 50 years. During the AGP–BJP time, there was no development in Assam. But during the 13 years of our rule in this State, there has been tremendous development and peace.’’

He also pointed to the ‘‘Hindutva’’ followed by the BJP, saying: ‘‘The BJP always talks about Hindutva. But leaders from this party do not read the Gita. In the Gita, it is written that there should be love, compassion and respect for all. The same thing is written in the Quran. But the BJP does not follow this. This party divides people rather.’’

On the issue of the Congress as it is evolving, Rahul said, ‘‘There is need for change in the Congress. This time in Assam, we have introduced the concept of ‘primaries’ in which people choose their own candidates for elections. I am thinking of introducing this system for all the candidates of my party in the future.’’

Rahul also talked of empowerment of women. ‘‘If India is to become a superpower, empowerment of women is a must. I want to see 50 per cent women in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha,’’ he said.

Towards the end of his 25–minute speech, Rahul harped on the self–immolation by a KMSS activist on Monday, saying: ‘‘I am aware of the incident. I have asked the Chief Minister to ensure that the State government takes the responsibility of his family. His family must be given lot of love and care. Let me also add that nothing can be achieved by anger.’’

He, interestingly, cited the case of a Sikh farmer at a rally in Haryana on Monday. ‘‘Yesterday I was addressing a rally in Haryana. A Sikh farmer told me that he had come from Pakistan and he was given land in Gujarat by the government. He has been living there for the last 40 years. But now the Gujarat government has told him that he is an outsider. We do not believe in such things. We believe in love.’’

When Rahul made this remark, some in the rally wanted to give murdabad slogan against Narendra Modi. But he intervened, saying: ‘‘Please do not say murdabad. I do not like this. Whatever you want to say, please say with love.’’

There was a huge gathering of people to hear Rahul’s speech. It is through this rally that the Congress in Assam kickstarted its campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.

After the rally, Rahul held an interaction with some mediapersons and intellectuals at the Sarusajai Stadium Complex. Later on, at the same venue, he participated at the extended executive meet of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee.

(Source)The Sentinel — The Largest Media group of North-East India — focused on news publishing. Combined circulation of the group is over 120,000 newspapers per day, making it the largest newspaper group in the region. The Sentinel is the only English daily in the Northeast India with five editions published simultaneously from Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Shillong, Silchar and Itanagar. For all local, national and international news please visit http://www.sentinelassam.com/