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New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi speaks during the second day of the 84th Plenary Session of Indian National Congress (INC), at the Indira Gandhi stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. PTI Photo by Manvender Vashist(PTI3_18_2018_000116B)[/caption]
New Delhi, March 18 (IANS): Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not fighting corruption but was “corruption himself” and under him, the country is controlled by “corrupt and powerful”.
“The name Modi symbolises the collusion between India’s biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister,” Gandhi said while addressing the Congress’s plenary session here.
Referring to the former Indian Premier Leagure (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi and diamond jeweller Nirav Modi, who are accused in different cases of fraud, he said that “Modi gives Modi Rs 30,000 crores of your money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections”.
Hitting out at the government over the Rafale fighter jet deal with France, Gandhi said: “Modi personally changed Rafale deal and bought 36 aircraft for the same price that we the Congress negotiated for 126.”
“We paid Rs 570 crore per plane and Modi paid Rs 1,670 crore for the same plane. He paid Rs 1,100 crore more per plane.
“Forget fighter planes you cannot trust such a man to buy vegetables. Modi is not fighting corruption as Modi is corruption,” he said, adding that under Modi, the “country is being controlled by the corrupt and the powerful”.
Gandhi also equated the BJP and RSS with the “Kauravas” of the Hindu epic Mahabarata, saying they were designed to “fight for power”.
“Centuries ago, there was huge battle on the field of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful and arrogant, while the Pandavas were humble and they fought for the truth
“Like the Kauravas, the BJP and the RSS are designed to fight for power, but like the Pandavas, the Congress is designed to fight for truth,” he said.
Gandhi also said that people will accept that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is drunk with power “because they know what it is designed for”.
Taking a potshot at BJP President Amit Shah without naming him he said: “They (the BJP) will accept a person with the murder charge as their party President.”
“But in Congress... they know that its an organisation of truth,” he said.
“India accepts the truth,” the Congress President added.
Gandhi also alleged that the “BJP is a voice of an organisation” while the “Congress is the voice of the nation”.
Taking a potshot at the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the Congres leader said: “(Mahatma) Gandhi spent 15 years in jail and died for the nation. But India must never forget that while our leader slept on the floor in jail, (Vinayak Damodar) Savarkar wrote a letter to the British begging for mercy and clemency,” he added.
