Army did not require Agniveer scheme, PM’s office implemented it: Rahul Gandhi

“But by coming up with Agniveer, Narendra Modi has broken this promise. And this Agniveer scheme wasn’t required by the Army. The Army did not say that it wants this Agniveer scheme. This scheme was implemented by the PM’s office. As soon as our government comes, we will cancel the Agniveer scheme,” he said, adding that the earlier “guarantee” which used to be given to jawans will be restored.

Attacking the Modi government, he said that the owners and senior management of 200 biggest companies of India don’t have any representation from the backward castes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or minorities, and that the PM has waived Rs 16 lakh crore for them. He said that to give context, the amount of money waived by the PM of the 25-30 richest Indians is equivalent to MGNREGA spending for 24 years. “The 22 richest Indians have the same money as 70 crore people,” he said.

He said that once Congress is in power, “the money they (BJP government) gave to arabpatis (billionaires), we will give that money to the poor, the backward, Dalits and tribals”. He said that once the money is given to farmers and labourers, the media will say that “you are spoiling the habits of the farmers”, but that it doesn’t say the same for arabpatis when their debts are waived.

Apart from listing his party’s five key promises, he reiterated that a caste census will be conducted and that Rs 1 lakh will be transferred in the bank account of one woman in every poor family “till they come out of the poverty line”.

Rahul said that during his padyatras, when he used to ask about the biggest issue, “pat comes the reply – unemployment is the biggest issue”. He said that the second issue, as per the majority of people, is inflation.

“But if you ask or watch the media, you will feel the biggest issue is Ambani ji’s wedding,” he said.