Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : A day after the BJP won Gujarat with a slim margin of 20 seats from the opposition, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the state had shaken Prime Minister Narendra Modi and shown him that “anger won’t help”.
“Gujarat has shown Mr Modi that anger won’t help him and that love can defeat the anger the BJP has. When we went to Gujarat three months ago we were told the opposition can’t take on Modi. But the people of Gujarat have jolted the PM and shown that they don’t believe in his so-called Gujarat development model,” Gandhi said outside Parliament.
He appeared confident and satisfied with the fight the Congress put up in Gujarat and credited it to party organisation in the state and the maturity of Gujarat voters.
“The Gandhian philosophy of non-violence is seeped deep in the Gujarat psyche even today and the people have shown that the BJP’s politics of anger and hate can be defeated with love and we will do that. The BJP had nothing to say in the name of development on the Gujarat poll eve and the PM kept talking about himself and Gujarat. His model is hollow and you will see this clearly in the coming days,” Gandhi said indicating the Congress preparedness to keep questioning the BJP’s economic model despite Gujarat returning the BJP to power.
Gandhi rejected the PM’s assertions that Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh had endorsed GST and demonetisation and asked whether the BJP even fought the elections on issues of development and economic sustainability.
The PM had a crisis of credibility, Gandhi alleged, asking why he was silent on the allegations of corruption against Jay Shah, the son of BJP chief Amit Shah, and also in the multi-crore Rafale deal.
“The PM talks of corruption non-stop. People see that. People also see he has not spoken a word on corruption in Rafale and by Jay Shah. This is a major credibility issue which the PM has. He and his machinery can keep saying things but the people don’t believe him anymore,” Gandhi said after conducting a spirited campaign in Gujarat which helped cut down on the BJP’s expected and much-hyped victory margins.
