Congress president Rahul Gandhi
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, farm distress and job losses, alleging the PM was an "incompetent man who listens to nobody".
In a series of tweets and Facebook posts, Gandhi cited various media reports to allege that the country was grappling with issues such as massive job losses and farm distress, while its growth story had been destroyed with steps like demonetisation and 'bad implementation' of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The prime minister while speaking in Jharkhand Saturday took a dig at the Congress for "misleading" farmers in the name of loan waiver, in spite of considering them as merely a "vote bank".
During another rally in Odisha, Modi again targeted the opposition party for "working at the behest of middlemen in the defence sector instead of running a government for the people during the UPA rule".
In his most scathing criticism, Gandhi cited a media report which claimed that demonetisation and GST were headed to look like bigger failures.
"Congress built the India growth story. Modi has used Demonetisation and the Gabbar Singh Tax to completely destroy it. He's an incompetent man who listens to nobody," he tweeted.
In a Facebook post earlier in the day, the Congress president hit out at Modi over clashes in a Gujarat village between the police and farmers, saying farmers were "distressed" under the BJP's rule.
Gandhi's remarks came after clashes broke out on Wednesday between the police and farmers protesting against limestone mining by a private firm near a village in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district, leaving several policemen and agitators injured.
"Modiji is beating his chest over the Congress's loan waiver. He has said for the Congress, farmers are a vote bank. Now see the condition of farmers in Gujarat. Under the BJP's rule, farmers are in distress," he said in his post in Hindi.
The farmers of Bhavnagar were protesting against mining due to the adverse effects on irrigation and agriculture, so the Gujarat police did this to them, he added.
From Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh to Bhavnagar in Gujarat, the "anti-farmer character" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is out in the open, Gandhi said.
In another Facebook post, the Congress leader attacked Modi over reported job losses last year, saying the prime minister who had promised two crore jobs every year was still singing the "tune of rhetoric".
Gandhi hit out at Modi citing media reports which claimed that the employment scenario turned bleak in the past year with almost 11 million Indians losing their jobs.
The report cited data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
"Breaking! 1 crore 10 lakh jobs were lost in 2018. The prime minister, who promised two crore jobs to the youth every year, is still singing 'Raag Jumla' (tune of rhetoric)," Gandhi said in the Facebook post in Hindi.
"If Modi ji had worked for the country instead of helping Anil Ambani steal, then the future of the youth would not have been so insecure," he added.
The Congress has accused the government of favouring Anil Ambani's firm in the Rafale fighter aircraft deal. However, the government, as well as Ambani, have rejected all the allegations.
The Congress president had earlier attacked the prime minister over the condition of farmers, alleging that on one hand, Modi was not waiving their loans and on the other, he was giving "license of loot" to his "suit-boot friends".
