True nationalism means respect and the BJP's narrative is devoid of it, Priyanka Gandhi said on Thursday, stepping up her attack on the ruling party for failing to address real issues.
Priyanka, the Congress general secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh, in an interview to PTI spoke about the growing 'public anger and pain' for which the people of India will give a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 23 when the Lok Sabha election votes are counted.
'Nationalism means solving the problems of the people of the country. The greatest patriotism of any politician, of any government, would be to be able to hear the people when they speak, would be to be democratic, to be able to strengthen the institutions that strengthen the public voice, not weaken it,' she said. 'I believe true nationalism is the love of the people and love for the country, which means respect, and I do not see respect for the people in anything they (the government) are doing,' Priyanka said.
The BJP has built its campaign narrative around the issue of nationalism and national security and the party has referred to the Balakot airstrikes and the Modi government's policy of tackling terror.
Priyanka, now vigorously campaigning in Rae Bareli and Amethi for her mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi, said the Modi government's policies have led to largescale public anger and pain among people. 'I think the people will give the message to him (PM) because I think wherever I go, I see a lot of public anger, public pain, which has not been addressed,' she said.
'... If public pain is not addressed, if the voice of the people is drowned by the voice of one leader or by the kind of ideology they (the BJP) have, they will have to suffer the consequences. So I think the people are very clear,' Priyanka said.
The Congress, she said, is fighting to protect the idea of India and the contest this time is between ideologies. 'It is an election in which we are fighting for the India that we all love, for democracy, and for all those values of democracy that we hold dear because institutions are being destroyed by this government.'
Asked whether she is dejected about not contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Varanasi against Modi, the Congress leader saidshe 'feared no one' and went by the direction of the party. It is important to strengthen the party in Uttar Pradesh as she is campaigning not for herself but for the Congress candidates, she added.
Asked what the ongoing elections meant for her personally, considering she and her family have been targeted by the BJP, she only said, 'This is part of BJP's politics.... They have targeted every person who has spoken against them whether it is a schoolteacher in Uttar Pradesh or an Opposition leader in New Delhi. This is the methodology of their politics and it is the methodology of an undemocratic mindset.'
Priyanka, who was named an AICC general secretary this January, said she found the BJP's flagship Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi 'offensive and insulting' because it was announced keeping the elections in mind when for the last five years 'you (the BJP) have done nothing for the farmers. You have not only done nothing for them, you have pushed them into debt'.
The scheme was announced in the February 1 Union budget.
'While you (Modi government) have been helping all the big businessmen and waiving their loans, you have pushed the farmers into debt. You have pushed farmers into a situation where 12,000 people are committing suicide for nothing.. for just Rs 10,000, or for Rs 2,000 and you have done nothing to help them. And now, because the election is coming, you think you can fool them by sending Rs 2,000 in their bank accounts. I think it is offensive. It is insulting,' Priyanka said.
