This is an archive article published on May 27, 2016

Two years of NDA — Modi like ‘Alice in Wonderland’, directionless, says Congress

Referring to protests in universities across the country, Ahmad said the current atmosphere is “disturbed” wherever Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the RSS, was “weak”.

3 min readLucknowMay 27, 2016 08:31 AM IST First published on: May 27, 2016 at 04:56 AM IST

Congress National General Seceretary Shakeel Ahmad along with party’s state President Nirmal Khatri hold a press c onference at state party head office in Lucknow on thursday.Express photo by Vishal Srivastav

Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad on Thursday equated Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “Alice in Wonderland” who has no idea about what he was doing. He claimed industrialists were the main beneficiaries in the past two years of the Modi government.

“Whatever Modi has delivered is opposite to what he had promised. Farmers have been the worst hit. The first thing the Centre did upon coming to power was change the land acquisition Act to make it easier for industrialists. While UPA had waived around Rs 72,000 crore of farmers’ loan, the Modi government waived Rs 1.14 lakh crore loan, only this waiver was not of farmers’ loan but that of industrialists,” the spokesperson for Congress said in Lucknow.

Referring to protests in universities across the country, Ahmad said the current atmosphere is “disturbed” wherever Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the RSS, was “weak”.

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He said an institution like JNU has primarily been a Left stronghold but still the Congress never targeted it. “But soon after the Modi came to power, JNU became a target,” he added.

Ahmad said issue of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and hoisting of National Flag was being raised by organisations like RSS, which did not hoist the flag at its headquarters for several years. “So, should we call RSS anti-national?” he asked.

Rejecting Centre’s claims of development, the Congress leader said “not even 0.1 per cent new jobs have been created in the past two years”. “The Modi government has given new names to schemes launched by UPA… Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan was changed to Swachh Bharat… Despite all the hype, the Centre decreased the allocated budget for the scheme… Even GST was Congress’ brainchild,” he added.

Ahmad claimed while only 96 ceasefire violations had taken place during the last UPA regime, 1,124 such violations at the border have already taken place in the last two years. “His policies are not clear. During UPA rule, Pakistan was cornered but he (Modi) decided to cut a cake there. While he claims that he was invited, their prime minister has clarified that he did not invite Modi,” Ahmad claimed.

“The way this government is functioning makes me feel the Prime Minister is like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ with no idea about what he is doing,” Ahmad said.

He also alleged that financial irregularities had taken place in Gujarat when Modi was the state’s chief minister. “A CAG report has pointed out how his government benefited Adani with Rs 40,000 crore. Moreover, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation spent Rs 19,778 crore but still failed to provide gas,” Ahmad alleged.

Meanwhile, in Varanasi, Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said that the BJP’s promise of “achhe din” has flopped and the people were in fact living their “worst days”.