Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said Narendra Modi’s ‘Gujarat model’ of fooling the people to facilitate corporate loot that had spread across the country would finally be destroyed by the poor and the deprived sections of society.
Addressing a gathering in Bharuch in the course of his Nyay Yatra, Rahul said: “Have you seen how a jeb-katra (pickpocket) works? One person diverts your attention and the second steals your money. Diverting attention is the Prime Minister’s job and Adani comes from behind to take your money away. Amit Shah stands in the vicinity with a lathi to ensure nobody creates a disturbance. That’s the Gujarat model.”
A few days ago, the Election Commission warned Rahul against using words such as “jeb-katra” as he had used this metaphor to explain the corporate loot earlier too. But the former Congress president again used the “jeb-katra” metaphor as the crowd burst into laughter. “Yehi to hai Gujarat model. Yahan shuru hua tha, pure desh mein faila diya inhone. Toe isko roka bhi yahin jayega. Kaun rokega? Aaplog rokoge — gareeb, kisan, Dalit, Adivasi, pichhde rokenge. Aur ye rukega, aap dekh lena (This started here and they spread it across the country. So, this has to be stopped here. Who will stop it? The poor, farmers, Dalits, tribals, backwards will. And you take it from me, this has to stop).”
Rahul elaborated on how Modi diverted people’s attention by raising irrelevant issues, banging plates and showing mobile-phone torchlight, apart from dipping into the sea and flying sea-plane. Arguing that the real issues were social justice, unemployment, prices, rising economic inequality and subversive schemes like Agniveer, he insisted that “Vikas” (development) happening today was designed for a very small population.
He said: “We have seen 70 years after Independence. Now let’s have an X-ray of society to see the nature of the malaise. Never forget the caste census; it will give us the data — both financial and social and only then real politics will start in India. Over 90 per cent of the population comprising OBCs, Dalits, Adivasi, and minorities today does not find representation in corporate, bureaucracy, private hospitals, universities, or colleges. Even the list of top contractors in Gujarat does not have one tribal, OBC, Dalit or minorities.”
In 2019 also, the Congress talked about minimum income guarantee but nobody except Rahul focused on propagating that scheme. This time, Rahul has taken it upon himself to spread the message far and wide, dwelling on caste census at every meeting and every interaction. Although he spoke about it in the last Assembly polls too, the idea failed to generate much interest among the people. But Nyay Yatra changed the discourse, compelling even spokespersons to talk about it.
