LAUNCHING A scathing assault on the federal government, senior Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday mentioned the three farm legal guidelines which it had enacted was not an remoted growth however half of a bigger design by the federal government at hand over key areas to a handful of massive corporates and create large monopolies which he argued will affect the center class and the youth.
With the farmers’ protests not spreading exterior Punjab and Haryana and failing to create sufficient ripples amongst different sections, Gandhi maybe was attempting to nuance the Congress technique.
Addressing a bodily press convention, his first on the Congress headquarters for the reason that lockdown, Gandhi additionally attacked the federal government over the Chinese aggression, saying it has no “strategic vision”.
Gandhi mentioned a tragedy is unfolding within the nation. “I am not just talking about the farmers because that is only a part of that tragedy… what we are seeing and we have seen it in industry after industry… we have seen it when it comes to airports, infrastructure, power, telecom, retail… across the board what we are watching is the development of massive monopolies in this country,” he mentioned.
“Three, four or five people are now owning this country. This country is now owned by a limited small group of people, who I term as crony capitalists who have a close relationship with the Prime Minister and who provide the Prime Minister with media support…,” he mentioned. Agriculture, the final bastion which was shielded from monopoly, is now being overrun, he mentioned.
Gandhi mentioned it was a tragedy that the nation itself will not be capable of perceive the depth of what’s occurring.
He mentioned what’s going to occur is that “three or four people are going to own India, own the entire agricultural system”.
“Farmers will not get the value they deserve, the mandi system will be destroyed… three or four will be able to store millions and millions of tonnes of wheat, rice and other essential commodities and the middle class will be paying prices that you have never imagined… This is not an assault on the farmers, this is an assault on the middle class, this is an assault on every single youngster in the country who is not going to get a job.”
Gandhi mentioned the farm legal guidelines are a part of a course of to weaken farmers. “This will not stop here. Their aim is to finish India’s farmers and give the agricultural system to 3 or 4 of his friends…,” he mentioned.
Asked about questions posed by BJP president J P Nadda, focusing on him and his get together, Gandhi mentioned, “Is J P Nadda my professor? That I keep on answering him. Who is he? Is he India’s professor or teacher? Why should I answer him… I answer to the country… I will answer the farmers…Whatever the farmers ask me. And yes we had spoken about agricultural system reforms. But we did not talk about destroying agricultural system… we did not talk about destroying markets, we did not say farmers cannot go to courts, we did not say that we will allow one or two persons to store India’s foodgrains….”
On China, he mentioned India doesn’t have a strategic imaginative and prescient to counter it and argued Beijing is testing India by means of such intrusions. “China is watching and understanding India’s weakness. And China has a clear strategic vision. It wants to shape the world. India does not have a strategic vision. Sometimes we are doing this, sometimes we are doing that… India is not working strategically,” he mentioned.
China, he mentioned, has examined India twice, as soon as in Doklam and now by sending troops in Ladakh. “If India does not give a clear message to China and not formulate a clear strategy – be it military strategy, economic strategy or geo-political strategy – China will not keep quiet and it will take advantage of the situation. And when it takes advantage, there will be damage. Then you will not be able to stop it,” he mentioned.
Gandhi mentioned if the federal government thinks that it may handle China by indulging in “tu tu main main” and “through event management” it’s mistaken. “China is different. China wants to dominate and it is working systematically. Your words would not make any difference…your job is to protect India and you are not doing that. And the result of it India will see. You cannot move away from reality,” he mentioned.
Asked concerning the controversy over the purported WhatsApp conversations between Arnab Goswami and former CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council Partho Dasgupta, he mentioned the Republic TV editor had been given delicate and high secret defence associated info by both the Prime Minister or the highest 4 folks – the Defence Minister, Home Minister, NSA and the Air Force chief – and argued it was a felony act. He demanded an investigation saying “it has to be found out who gave the information and both of them should go to jail”.
“This was top secret information… There were four or five people who knew this information. The Prime Minister of India, possibly the Defence Minister of India, the Home Minister of India, the NSA and the Air Force chief. These would be the five people who would know this. This is a criminal act… Giving official secret information to a journalist is a criminal act, both on the part of the person who accepted it and on the part of the person who gave it. It has to be found out who gave the information and both of them should go to jail. This process should start. But this process will not start (because) the Prime Minister may have given the information. So it (investigation) will not happen,” he mentioned.
The Congress is planning to construct warmth on the federal government over the problem. On Wednesday, the get together will discipline Leader of Opposition within the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Defence Minister A Okay Antony, former Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to tackle the federal government over the problem. Antony, Khurshid and Shinde have been members of the Manmohan Singh authorities’s Cabinet Committee on Security.
