Sonia Gandhi hits out at Narendra Modi, questions his promise on bringing back black money

“…What happened to their promise of getting back the black money from abroad within 100 days of coming to power. Have any steps been taken in this regard? Absolutely not,” Gandhi said at a rally in Meham, hours after Modi urged voters in Haryana to oust the Congress.

“A country is not built in a day’s time. For the development of a nation it takes years of hard work, the right intention and the willingness to sacrifice,” she said.

Accusing Modi government of hijacking policies of previous Congress regimes, she urged the people not to get swayed by “hollow promises” and said that Congress was the only party which would ensure that development continues in Haryana.

“At the time of the elections, I urge you to take a decision after listening to your brain and not your heart. To seek votes, they try to play with your emotions, make hollow promises. Beware of such designs,” the Congress President said.

“Those who lure people with their false dreams only to secure power have nothing to do with progress or people of the state,” she said.

She also accused the ruling BJP of rechristening the schemes of the UPA and presenting them before people, after having criticised the same schemes during UPA regime.

Gandhi also urged people of the state to elect the Congress once again to ensure speedy progress and to take forward the development initiated by the party in the last 10 years for it to be cited as an example across the country.

“Congress is not such a party which believes in presenting others’ works as its own,” she said.

Praising the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government for ushering in all-round development in various spheres of life, she said, “In the last 10 years, Congress party has laid a strong foundation for the state’s progress and will take it forward on the path of development in the next five years…Only Congress party can do this work of initiating development.”

She also attacked the BJP and INLD for indulging in “caste politics”.

Stating that these elections are very important for Haryana, Gandhi asked if any of the promises made by BJP during Lok Sabha elections five months ago have been fulfilled after coming to power.

“Have prices come down? Have the poor started getting cheaper meals a day or have the youth got more employment?” she said.

Gandhi claimed that there was an atmosphere of fear prevailing in Haryana before the Congress came to power and said her party led by Hooda had ushered in speedy progress and development in the state.

Taking a dig at the BJP for presenting UPA schemes as their own, she said, “They find happiness in presenting the schemes of others as their own. When our UPA government was in power, they always used to criticise our schemes. But now they are launching schemes after renaming ours.”

Claiming that the Congress has ushered in a strong foundation of development in Haryana, she said, “Congress has done the real work. In Haryana, Congress in the last 10 years has done such things which were never done earlier.”

She said “to take India where it is today, every Indian has put in their labour, including that by scientists and our political and social leaders”.

Gandhi said the policies framed for the Dalits and other weaker sections were followed by some other states.

Seeking a clear mandate for the Congress, Gandhi told the people that the October 15 polls were very important.

“The Congress government has laid strong foundation of development in the state and in next five years this same pace of development will be ensured and this can only be done by the Congress,” she said.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed, state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar and Rohtak MP Deepinder Singh Hooda also addressed the rally.

From Meham assembly segment, Congress’ Anand Singh Dangi is in the fray.

Speaking on the occasion, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also attacked BJP, saying the recent by-election results have shown that there was no Modi wave in the country.

“In the bypoll, BJP lost in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The INLD and the BJP will be wiped off from Haryana this time,” Hooda said.

Meanwhile, addressing another poll rally in Sirsa, Sonia Gandhi slammed the opposition parties, alleging that they are only concerned about their own interest and have nothing to do with the people.

“Now the truth is coming out, people have realised the difference between their promises and actions. Even otherwise, you people are wise and know the difference between truth and lie,” she said.

Seeking to counter Modi on his claim that world has recently started looking at India with respect, Gandhi said, “Countries are looking at India with respect and nation’s development is being praised. This was neither possible in one day nor in 100 days. It took years of struggle.”

Congress in the last 60 years had laid foundation of modern India.

“India reached moon, India reached Mars, we became nuclear power….all these achievements were possible because of struggle and efforts of leaders like Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, (Lal Bahadur) Shastri, Indira (Gandhi), Rajiv (Gandhi) and Manmohan Singh,” she said.

Praising the Haryana Chief Minister for development work carried out in the state during last 10 years, Gandhi said that the state government had worked for every section of the society including farmers, laboureres, Scheduled Caste and poor ones.

“Today, wages are highest in country, land acquisition compensation in Haryana is highest, sugarcane rates are maximum…,” Gandhi said, listing out several other achievements of the state government.