Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “spreading hatred and anger in the country” to put real issues on the back-burner. Addressing his first “Mission 13” rally in Punjab’s Moga district, Rahul invoked Guru Nanak Dev and accused the BJP and Modi of attacking the Guru’s ideology and philosophy of peace, tolerance and brotherhood, by “spreading hatred within the country to cover up the real issues”. “We are remembering Guru Nanak Dev ji. He had shown the path of love and brotherhood. But today, the situation in the country is of hatred and anger. The way BJP people and Prime Minister ji are spreading hatred in the country, against which Guru Nanak Dev ji had spent his entire life, in a way, his (Guru Nanak) thoughts are being attacked. It is not only happening in Punjab, but in the entire country.” Taking a dig at the PM, he said, “Indeed, he has worked a lot, but only for the rich. The Chowkidaar is always at the service of the rich and mighty.” He alleged that the PM “waived Rs 3.5 lakh crore of 15 industrialists” but could not “waive a single rupee of poor farmers”. Rahul along with Punjab CM Amarinder Singh launched a debt waiver scheme under Karza Mafi scheme for landless farmers and farm labourers in Punjab, under which the state government aims to write off Rs 520 crore debt of 2.85 lakh families. Repeating the slogan ‘chowkidaar chor hai’, Rahul dared the PM to have a debate with him on the Rafale issue. Addressing a rally in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district, Rahul said the Congress plans to grant the status of “martyr” to paramilitary personnel who are killed while serving the country. “CRPF’s Tilak Raj (from Himachal) was martyred (in Pulwama). We remember him here today. It is sad that when someone from paramilitary forces dies, they don’t get the status of shahid (martyr). We have decided that when Congress comes to power in 2019, it will give the status of martyr to whoever from paramilitary forces has died in service of the country.” On the Pulwama attack, Rahul said that while the Congress did not politicise the issue for over a week, “it is sad that when tensions between India and Pakistan grew after the Pulwama terror attack, our PM Narendra Modi politicised the issue”. Rahul promised the Congress would do “historic work”. “The Congress will give minimum guaranteed income,” he said. “Your fight is that of ideology. On the one hand, there’s the (BJP’s) ideology of hatefulness and anger, and on the other hand there’s the Congress that talks of love. It is you who will win (in Lok Sabha polls). The Congress will win all four seats in Himachal,” he said.
