Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addressing a rally in Jhansi on December 6
Sharpening his attack on the Narendra Modi government, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today said unlike the earlier regimes, including the Vajpayee government, all powers were now concentrated on a 'single man' who takes decisions without any discussions.
"In the BJP only Modi speaks. He makes decisions. It is not BJP government, it is Modi government and it works for three to four corporates. Only Modi is of consequence," Mr Gandhi, 44, said while addressing an extended executive meeting of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee in Thiruvananthapuram.
Asserting that in sharp contrast, the Congress always stood for empowering people, Mr Gandhi said the situation was different even when Atal Bihari Vajpayee headed the first BJP-led government in the country.
"We had issues with Vajpayee government. We did not believe in its ideology. But he used to listen to his colleagues. Now no one can open their mouth even inside the party fora. They tell us to be silent in Parliament," Mr Gandhi said.
Alleging that the BJP was a party which would not have any problem in pursuing opportunistic policies for gaining power, the Congress leader said this had been admitted by (Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley during a conference in London some time back.
Stating that every pro-people decision taken by the UPA regime had been diluted in the last six months, Mr Gandhi said the present government was pursuing "anti-people" policies and was interested only in promoting the interests of a few corporates.
Though the Congress respected the mandate given to the government by the electorate, they had now started asking questions what it had done for them in the last six months, he said.
The unfolding scenario gave the Congress an opportunity to align themselves with people and open its doors to them.
Lauding the Kerala unit of the party and its organisational might, he said this gave it an opportunity to fight the coming civic and Assembly polls and clinch a thumping victory.
He said the CPI(M), the main opposition in Kerala, was unlikely to make gains as it was still struggling from its internal dissensions.