Chandigarh, May 10, 2019: In Chandigarh to campaign for local Congress candidate for Lok Sabha elections, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Congress National President Rahul Gandhi said, that he is startled that Chandigarh which was such a well-planned cities and had all the potential to become an international center doesn’t have its own fully-functional International Airport.
He was speaking at a massive public rally in Chandigarh’s Sector-38 ground which was thronged by thousands of people who had come there to listen to Rahul Gandhi.
Amidst the venue flooded with people, Congress flags fluttering all around and the public shouting slogans in party’s favour, Rahul Gandhi addressed the gathering in a friendly and casual tone making Chandigarh and its people as the prime focus of his gripping speech.
While the crowd cheered Gandhi at every jibe he made at Modi, the National Party President took a moment to talk about the pleasant weather of Chandigarh when a gush of wind blew and he compared it with a revolution waiting to happen in India on 23rd of May when Congress will come back to power.
He said Narendra Modi knows defeat is staring strong in his face, that’s why he’s making strange statements these days. “He says a lot of things about me, my father and my family in general. But I don’t mind. In fact, I would say that ‘Narendra Modi ji, the more you hate me, the more I will love you, because I belong to Mother India and it’s only love that resides in my heart.”
However, he criticized him for bringing down the GDP of India and making people suffer due to reckless decisions like GDP and Demonetisation. The Congress chief said promises made five years back were not met. He questioned Modi why he does not speak in his rallies about jobs which were to be provided to the youth, put Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts of all, loan waivers to farmers, to name a few of the many promises made. He said unemployment is the highest in 45 years now and the credit goes to our Prime Minister for this.
Gandhi also challenged Modi to have an open debate with him and he claimed that in just 15 minutes he will expose how corrupt our PM is. “But our PM even with his 56-inch chest is afraid to sit with me in a debate.”
Slamming the BJP government for making tall claims about Make in India, and Startup India, he said that the truth is that anyone in Chandigarh who wants to do business needs permission from the government and go through the red-tapism.
He promised the youth that once voted to power, Congress will make sure that anyone can start a business without government’s permission.
Rahul Gandhi also mentioned about the NYAY scheme and said that unlike BJP they don’t make false claims of crediting people’s bank accounts with unrealistic figures like Rs 15 Lakh. He assured though that under NYAY scheme, 25 crore families in India will be benefited, when the government puts Rs 72000 in accounts of women of the family annually.
Talking specifically about Chandigarh he said, “I learnt from Bansal ji that in Chandigarh many people still don’t have property ownership rights. I promise you that once we are elected to power, this shall be done for sure.”
Finally addressing the problem of unemployment, the Congress chief said, “In China, every 24 hours, 50 thousand jobs are created, but under Narendra Modi’s rule, every 24 hours around 27000 people lose their jobs. Do you know that there are 22 lakh government jobs still lying vacant in India? I fail to understand why Narendra Modi didn’t give these jobs to the youth of his own country? About 10 lakh jobs can easily be created in Panchayat sector and Congress will do that.”
Before his speech, Bansal said, “We’re honoured to have Rahul Gandhi ji here in Chandigarh, a city that happens to be the brainchild of his great-grandfather, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru.”
Bansal also apprised Gandhi about the current issues plaguing the city including its plummeting “swachhata ranking” (From no. 1 to no. 20), its below-average smart city ranking (67 out of 100) and the growing rate of crime, especially against the women in Chandigarh.
Also present at the function, Congress candidate from Anandpur Sahib, Manish Tewari addressed the public too. He welcomed Gandhi and said that he’s fighting this Lok Sabha elections like a true crusader singlehandedly.
Among other leaders who were present there included, Pardeep Chhabra, Chandigarh Congress President, who made sure that the crowd remains charged up with his enthralling speech. Other senior leaders present were Asha Kumari, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Madhu Bansal, Lal Singla, Charanjit Singh Channi, Kamal Kant, Jagmohan Singh, Vijender Singla among others.