Hyderabad deserves better, India deserves better, says Rahul Gandhi

HYDERABAD: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had direct access to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and received orders from him on how to act in Telangana, but they pretended to be rivals in front of the public.

Whatever a Bill is introduced in Parliament, the TRS gives its fullest support to the BJP, Gandhi said. The TRS and the BJP are one at the same and work the same, people should not fall in their trap, he said, while addressing a mammoth gathering in the city at the end of the Bharat Jodo Yatra for the day.

The former AICC president reached Hyderabad in the morning as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He walked through the Old City and addressed a public meeting at the Indira Gandhi statue at Necklace Road at night.

The ideology of BJP and RSS would not help the development of the nation, he said, adding that it would make the nation go down. “We have started the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari a few months back and it aims to end this culture of hate and violence being spread by BJP and RSS,” he explained.

Rahul Gandhi said that Bharat Jodo Yatra was the true voice of Hindustan. “There is not hate here. There has not been even a small disturbance during the yatra. Lakhs of people are joining the yatra, it looks like a river flowing, with all sections of people fusing like one. There are no feelings of differences among the people in the yatra. People from all walks of life, all religions and regions, all castes and cultures, varied in age, gender, social strata, are all feeling one. This is the real feeling of being an Indian,” he said.

Commenting on the lack of development in Hyderabad, he quipped, “I used to think Delhi was the most polluted city in India. Today, I found out it is Hyderabad. The TRS government is keeping the standards of infrastructure low, the infra development that is supposed to happen here is not happening,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“During my yatra in Telangana, I have met farmers, youth and other people of the state. Congress leaders and I listened to people all day,” he said.

The Congress MP said that Telangana farmers had told him that they are working so hard every day and still not able to earn anything significant because they are not getting any support from the governments, either at the Centre or the state.

“Prime Minister Modi has promised two crore jobs every year. They spoke of doubling farmers’ income. Now, neither PM Modi nor CM Rao are not talking about these issues anymore,” he said.

Small and medium industries were the biggest employment generators of the nation, but with the illogical policies of the Modi government like a flawed GST and demonetisation, they could not sustain themselves. These small businessmen were not given any support during Covid pandemic time either, and are now therefore unable to provide jobs, he said.

“Modi has some friends in Delhi and he is giving away ports, airports, LIC and PSUs to them so that they earn more and more. I am wondering how Hyderabad Airport was still not in the list,” Gandhi said.

People are striving hard to survive and escape from the clutches of unemployment and inflation, he said. The Modi government was giving loans to rich businessmen and unable to recover them, so they call them NPAs. But if a farmer or a middle-class family takes a loan and are unable to pay, they are termed defaulters, he said.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra has started to raise all such issues, which are being ignored by other parties. The Yatra is a fighting tool to save democracy and common people, he said.

Rahul Gandhi said that despite the excruciating schedule of the yatra, none of the yatris were feeling tired, even after walking over 25 km every day.

“This is not because we are strong. It is only because of the love and support we are getting all day from people,” he said.

He urged the people of Hyderabad to think well and understand that development was only possible with an open minded government, not with hate and narrow minded approach. Hyderabad is a world famous IT hub and it should develop further with love and peaceful atmosphere not in hatred and violence, he added.