"PM Modi Is Corruption": Rahul Gandhi's Scathing Attack At Congress Meet

New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, pitched for change within the party and laid down what is virtually a vision document ahead of the next year's general elections. He spelled out the priorities of the party on various fronts -- on jobs, education and agriculture. "There are two visions before the world today- American and Chinese. My aim is to present an Indian vision to the world," he said.

"We are different from BJP. If we make mistakes, we accept," Mr Gandhi said. Citing the instance of demonetisation, he said had the Congress made the "mistake", "we would have accepted it and and rectified".
 In what was one of his strongest attack on the BJP, its ideological leader Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and PM Modi, Mr Gandhi, in his 53-minute speech, accused the prime minister "distracting" the people from the real problems and indulging in crony capitalism.

"Modiji thinks he is an avatar of God. Modi is not fighting corruption, he is corruption," Mr Gandhi said.

Taking a dig at the Prime Minister over two other names that have become identified with corruption cases -- celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi - he said: "The name Modi symbolises the collusion between India's biggest businessmen and the Prime Minister. Modi gives Modi 30,000 crores of your money and in turn, Modi gives Modi money for marketing Modi and fighting elections."
 For the party's workers and leaders, he had a clear message: That he would try to break the wall between leaders and workers, but in turn, the factionalism must stop. "Let us put all our differences aside and work together to ensure victory for the party. Please fight after the elections. But for next six to seven months, fight for the nation," he said.

Minutes after Mr Gandhi's address, the BJP rallied to launch a furious counterattack. Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said it was the "rhetoric of loser, devoid of substance" and followed it up with a point-by-point rebuttal.

Without refering to Mr Gandhi's speech, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said, "There can be a debate on whether more work has been done or less, but no one can raise a question on the integrity and intention of the government."

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said Mr Gandhi should apologise for his party's misdeeds first and then attack PM Modi.

"While accusing the Modi government, he forgets that Congress did worst of genocide of Sikhs, they brought censorship in media and are known for all kinds of corruption and scams. He should first apologise for all that," Mr Javadekar said.