Priyanka Gandhi in Haryana: Those who stopped you from entering Delhi, throw them out of Delhi

In an attempt to establish an emotional connection with the women wrestlers who had protested in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, Priyanka cited her own daughter’s story who she said was sent to a training camp in Haryana.

“Our daughters who brought Olympic medals were made to sit on roads and protest. When they won the medals, Modiji invited them to his house and clicked pictures with them. And when they were fighting for justice, they thought they would get justice because they had brought laurels to the nation. They were not heard. And this BJP kept on saying that Modi hai toh mumkin hai, making it look as if they won medals because of Modiji.

“I know what it takes to win medals. I know when our youngsters get out at 3 am for training. I can feel their hardships. My daughter has played nationals for Haryana. I sent her to a training camp in Haryana. She used to call me crying and said that she was not able to do it. I told her that she should learn from the village girls, who work so hard. She did her training.

“When she went to play the tournament with other girls, I also accompanied her. (On the day of the match), the team’s captain—I guess her name was Radhika—was running a temperature of 103 degrees. I felt so pained. I requested that she should not play and take treatment, but she kept playing and playing. That is the spirit of our daughters.”

In her speech of about 25 minutes, Priyanka focused mostly on farmers’ yearlong agitation and asked farmers to teach the BJP government a lesson in the May 25 election. She also spoke about the Congress’s poll promise to abolish the Agniveer scheme of temporary military recruitment.

Towards the end of her speech, Priyanka also talked about the Congress’s Nyay Patra of poll guarantees. “For farmers, we shall give you a legal right to MSP. Nobody will be able to snatch it away from you. We shall completely abolish GST from agriculture. A commission will ensure loan waivers for you. We shall guarantee you crop-loss compensation within 30 days. For my sisters, Rs 8,500 per month will be deposited in her bank account. In Karnataka and Telangana, we are giving Rs 2,000 per month. We waived off farmer loans in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and increased wages for Anganwadi workers and Asha workers. Women will get 50 per cent reservation in central government jobs. Guaranteed jobs with Rs 1 lakh per year for graduates, stringent laws to curb question paper leaks, filling of 30 lakh vacant government jobs… We shall abolish the Agniveer scheme. We shall guarantee legal wages of Rs 400 per day for labourers who are exploited today by contractors, MGNREGA will be further strengthened,” she said.

Before reaching Panipat, Priyanka held a roadshow in support of the Congress candidate in Sirsa, Kumari Selja. Thursday is the last day of campaigning for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana as polling will take place on Saturday.