Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the saffron party of spreading "fear" wherever it is in power in the country.
"Policies introduced by the Congress have helped the people of this country to be fearless," Gandhi said speaking at the ‘Jan Vedna’ party convention held here to highlight the "sufferings of people" post demonetisation.
"But what has (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji done? He has made farmers of the country fear and also said that I shall snatch your land if you don't listen to me," Gandhi said, referring to the land acquisition act.
"If there is any natural calamity then also the government won't give any compensation to farmers. If any tribal man stands and says that it is my land, forest or home, he is shot dead," Gandhi alleged.
"Whether it is Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, wherever they go they spread fear," the Congress leader said, referring to the BJP-ruled states.
"It is a clash between two philosophies. Congress says 'daro mat' (don't fear), BJP says 'daro aur darao' (create fear and frighten)," Gandhi said.
Gandhi also said that wherever "we (Congress) go we spread the message of fearlessness".
Citing the Congress election symbol the 'palm' Gandhi said, "The Congress symbol is in Lord Shiva's picture. The gods in every religion are showing the Congress symbol."
He added. "I found Congress' symbol in pictures of Shiv ji, Gurunanak ji, Buddha and Mahavir. I asked Karan Singh ji what does it mean and he said, 'Don't be afraid, face the truth'."
"People of the country don't need to fear from anything. This country is strong and not weak. People of the country are aware and they know that they don't have shortage of anything," Gandhi said.
Gandhi also slammed Modi and his ministers for "undermining" the strength of the country and said, "After the surgical strikes one of his ministers said that 'today Indian soldiers have done a job like that of the Israeli forces'."
"What does this mean? Was the capability of Indian forces lesser than of the Israeli troops?" he asked.
"I say our army is ahead of Israeli forces," the Congress leader said.
Slamming Modi, Gandhi said, "He doesn't believe in the people of the country.
"They (BJP) hate the reality of the country, and the reality is that we love each other," Gandhi said.
"Wherever he goes, he only talks about future; is India such in a bad place?" Gandhi asked.
In his second speech of the day, Rahul was at his humorous best where he quoted Amitabh Bachchan's dialogue from a film and also imitated Modi’s iconic ‘Mitron’ catchphrase.
