Camp: Belgaum, Karnataka

Date: 15th February, 2014

Time: 3.30 pm

Rahul Gandhi at Belgaum, Karnataka: BJP just talks, only Congress brings in development

Belgaum: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday addressed a massive party rally in Karnataka’s Belgaum

and slammed the BJP’s double speak on corruption.

In an indirect dig at BJP’s prime ministerial; candidate Narendra Modi, the Congress leader said, “Now we see a BJP

leader has been roaming around the country and talks about corruption but the large scale corruption, that took

place in Karnataka when they were in power, is not visible for him. They forget that their BJP Chief Minister was sent

to jail for corruption. They do not see that 16 ministers had to resign. They do not see corruption in Chhattisgarh,

Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. The people of Karnataka threw the BJP govt out of power, mainly because of the

massive corruption under its rule. And now the former Chief Minister, who was in jail on corruption charges, is back in

BJP. The BJP leaders, but, do not realise it. They see corruption only in the Congress-ruled states and ignore it in the

BJP states”.

Rahul Gandhi also took another jibe at Modi for his recent call for an IT revolution. “Now some BJP leaders deliver big

speeches while roaming across the country. They say that India can become a great IT hub. But who initiated this? It

was the Congress which started work in this direction. It was the people, the youth who had helped Karnataka to

become a prominent place in the IT sector. It took a long time to achieve this, about 60 years. But the BJP leaders,

who were against computers, now want Karnataka to become IT Centre. They do not think who had initiated this.

They forget that it was the Congress which had the vision for it. Rajiv Gandhi’s efforts made it possible” said the

Congress Vice President.

Continuing his attack on BJP, Rahul Gandhi said, “They (BJP) want to form a government of the selected people, of the

corporate, the elite and want to ignore India. This is the difference between Congress and the opposition” and added

“We do not need an India where a handful of people become rich and our farmers, Dalits and weaker sections live in

distress. We need such a country where every citizen has respect, every religion has respect, every ideology has

respect, every woman and youth have respect”.

“The opposition makes one person fight with other. They ignore your strength. They want to grab power while people

are fighting each other” said Rahul Gandhi and assured “We will, together work, for the development here. We will

not let anyone to slip back. We want to instil confidence among the people so that they feel their role in nation

building and in development”.

“In 2014, Congress is going to form a government at the Centre and we will continue with our pro-poor policies. We

will continue our efforts for the upliftment of the youth and the women. We will get the Women Reservation Bill,

which ensures 33% reservation for women, passed in the Parliament. We will empower you more so that we can

have more women MPs and MLAs,” concluded Rahul Gandhi amidst loud applauds from the huge gathering.

Rahul Gandhi at Belgaum, Karnataka – full speech

The relationship of Congress with this region is very old. In 1924 Gandhi Ji had visited Belgaum. I also take this opportunity to

remember Chittoor rani Chennama Ji.

Karnataka is such a state which has been fast growing. It also achieved good development in IT industry. This state developed

due to the hard work the people, it developed due to their sweat and blood. You developed not just in 2-3 days, but after

fighting for long days. Congress also has an important role in this. It worked alongwith the people for development in the state. I

just want to point out some examples.

It was the Congress which established BHEL, HAL factories in Bangalore. After that the Congress fought for the rights of the poor.

The then Chief Minister Devraj Urs had put in sincere efforts for the upliftment of the poor, labourers, Dalits and weaker

sections. He fought for the lands for the poor. His Congress government had initiated several policies like what all we have been

doing now.

In 1980 Rajiv Gandhi had initiated IT and computers. But you must be remembering that the opposition, the BJP, laughed at him

by saying that India do not require computers. They had said that computers will kill the jobs.

The most important fact is, Rajiv Ji had also said, that that the strength of Hindustan is in its people. India cannot stand on its

own leg if we do not use this strength properly, uplift the poor and take its entire people together. This has been the ideology of

the Congress. We must help the poor, the women and the weaker sections. We must carry all the people together and use their

strength.

But what does the opposition say? They tell us to forget the poor, weak, labourers and farmers. They want to form a

government of the selected people, of the corporate, the elite and want to ignore India. This is the difference between Congress

and the opposition. We do not need an India where a handful of people become rich and our farmers, Dalits and weaker

sections live in distress. We need such a country where every citizen has respect, every religion has respect, every ideology has

respect, every woman and youth have respect. We will fight for such an India. This has been the concept of India and it is more

than 3000 years old. Ashoka, Budha, Gandhi Ji and Geeta, all taught us this ideology.

But the opposition makes one person fight with other. They ignore your strength. They want to grab power while people are

fighting each other.

Karnataka witnessed a huge growth in its IT industry. This achievement took place because we took everyone along, the poor,

the weak and the business houses.

Now BJP leaders deliver big speeches roaming across the country. They say that India can become a great IT hub. But who

initiated this? It was the Congress which started work in this direction. It was the people, the youth who had helped Karnataka

to become a prominent place in the IT sector. It took a long time to achieve this, about 60 years. But the BJP leaders, who were

against computers, now want Karnataka to become IT Centre. They do not think who had initiated this. They forget that it was

the Congress which had the vision for it. Rajiv Gandhi’s efforts made it possible.

Now we see a BJP leader has been roaming around the country and talks about corruption but the large scale corruption, that

took place in Karnataka when they were in power, is not visible for him. They forget that their BJP Chief Minister was sent to jail

for corruption. They do not see that 16 ministers had to resign. They do not see corruption in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh

and Karnataka. The people of Karnataka threw the BJP govt out of power, mainly because of the massive corruption under its

rule. And now the former Chief Minister, who was in jail on corruption charges, is back in BJP. The BJP leaders, but, do not

realise it. They see corruption only in the Congress-ruled states and ignore it in the BJP states.

BJP had promised 24 hour electricity in Karnataka. But the reality was that the people received only 3 hour electricity under BJP

regime. The previous BJP government was not of the people of Karnataka; it was the government of Bellari. It mortgaged the

entire state to Bellari and told them to forget the people, the women, the youth and allowed them to loot the state. Today, BJP

leaders travel across the country and talk loud against corruption!

The Congress, in the last 10 years, has been running a pro-poor, pro-people government at the Centre. We initiated the process

to grant rights to the people. We implemented MNREGA to guarantee jobs to the rural masses. The people of Karnataka now get

rice for Rs. 1 a kg. The Central government enacted Food Security law to make sure that no one lives hungry in our country.

Who brought RTI Act? It was the Congress which did it. It empowered people and ensured transparency in government

administration. Any citizen can gather any information about the government using RTI. It is the Congress which enacted Lokpal.

Now, there are six bills on corruption pending in the Parliament. Congress wants to get those passed. But it is the opposition and

the BJP which are blocking its passage. They do not let the Parliament to function.

BJP talks a lot but only Congress delivers and brings in development.

I want to assure you that the Karnataka government will work for all. We will ensure that the poor, labourers and weaker

sections of the society get respect. We will try to incorporate people’s strength in developing Karnataka. We will empower the

people to our maximum. The present government has been giving focus on this. It concentrates on irrigation, farmer welfare,

loan-waiving and the welfare of the poor. We will further boost the IT industry here.

We will, together work, for the development here. We will not let anyone to slip back. We want to instil confidence among the

people so that they feel their role in nation building and in development.

In 2014, Congress is going to form a government at the Centre and we will continue with our pro-poor policies. We will continue

our efforts for the upliftment of the youth and the women. We will get the Women Reservation Bill, which ensures 33%

reservation for women, passed in the Parliament. We will empower you more so that we can have more women MPs and MLAs.

Thank you.

Jai Hind.

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