New Delhi: BJP today hit back at Congress' all-out attack on its government on the land bill and asked the opposition party to explain “Vadra model” of development and land acquisition and demanded that Rahul Gandhi apologises from people for “insulting” the most popular mandate given to it.
The party, while condemning the “brazen contempt against the popular mandate”, also took a dig at Rahul Gandhi's “relaunch” at the Congress ‘Kisan Rally' at Ramlila maidan, questioning whether the Congress scion will be relaunched after every defeat.
BJP also accused Rahul of speaking a “white lie” on the land bill and for spreading disinformation on the issue even when it has been made clear that as far as acquisition for corporate houses or for private businesses was concerned, the entire 2013 land bill will apply.
“When Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi talk about Gujarat model of development and land acquisition, we would like to very gently ask, kindly reply what is the Vadra model of development and land acquisition.
“Where the entire state apparatus, laws were bent and abused to ensure windfall gains for someone connected to the family and those land belonged to the poor farmers,” BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press conference.
He sought to know what this model of development was when an investment of a few lakhs gets converted into crores after taking away the land of poor and small farmers. “Please explain this model of development,” he said. Taking a dig at Rahul's relaunch, he said, “Today, the BJP would like to know from the Congress party as to how many times Rahul Gandhi will be launched and relaunched. Will there be Rahul Gandhi's repackaging after every defeat, the country wants to know.”
Prasad said Rahul was launched at Bhatta Parsaul, after which Congress was wiped out in Uttar Pradesh. He later campaigned in Bihar elections where the party was also wiped out. In Lok Sabha elections too, he said Rahul talked of a lot of things, but Congress came down to its lowest ever number in its history.
“Will there be Rahul Gandhi's repackaging after every defeat, the country wants to know,” Prasad said.
Taking strong objection to Rahul's statements that BJP won elections after taking loans from big industrialists and is now repaying them by giving them farmers' land, the BJP Minister said “Does Rahul Gandhi have the right to insult the mandate of the people.”
“We would demand that Rahul Gandhi please apologise to the people of the country for insulting the most popular mandate in the last Lok Sabha elections. We condemn this brazen contempt against the popular mandate,” he said, adding that this amounted to an insult of the democratic rights of people.
Prasad said the people of the country gave BJP an absolute majority after 30 years, after Manmohan Singh government's “misrule under pressure from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi” and saw a new ray of hope in the new Narendra Modi government.
He said in elections, you win and lose and Rahul Gandhi campaigned in Maharashtra, where the party lost, he campaigned in Jharkhand, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir where the Congress also lost and failed to open the account in Delhi.
“Rahul Gandhi needs to understand that India is not a monarchy, India is governed by popular choice and the popular choice has come in favour of BJP led by Narendra Modi in a very overwhelming way. He cannot insult this popular mandate,” the Union Minister said.
Prasad also said that “Some people go abroad for doing ‘atma chintan' (introspection) while someone else goes abroad for enhancing India's prestige across the world”. To a question on Gandhi's relaunch, he said, “I don't get self gratification like Congress party for the new comeback of their leader. How far it will be popularly accepted, we may see later.”
The Congress top brass launched an all-out attack on the government with Rahul Gandhi declaring that he would be in the vanguard against any move to hurt farmers' interests and accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of bringing the land bill to “pay back huge loans” taken from corporates in the Lok Sabha poll.
