Camp: Idukki, Kerala

Date: 5th April, 2014

Time: 5 pm

Rahul Gandhi: BJP talks about one leader but Congress talks about millions of leaders

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi while speaking at a mammoth election rally in Kerala’s Idukki district took an indirect dig

at BJP and said that the opposition party talks about just one leader. “I am always happy to visit Kerlala and I am interested to

know more about the politics in Kerala, the participation of people in the politics, the participation of Panchayats in politics of

Kerala. Our opposition talks about one leader but in Kerala the Congress party talks about thousands and millions of leaders. We

have leaders at every single level in Kerala. And this is the politics of the 21st century. If you want to change, if you want to fight

corruption we want to empower every citizen. It is this participatory politics of Kerala that inspires me”.

“Today we have broadly three ideologies. One is that of Left which talks against poverty but creates poverty among the

educated. They say everyone should be same and poor. The other side you have the India Shining idea. They want few people

handle entire wealth of this country and want to give entire power to a limited group. They are not interested in the future of

the people or nation. The third idea, the most focal idea is that of Congress. We want prosperity and we want fairness”

explained the Congress leader.

“We want more business but at the same time we want to ensure that with encouraging business we must also empower our

people. We want to create industry that creates jobs to our people. We want the poorest people of this country dream the

biggest dream possible. We don’t want a country where a selected group enjoys all facilities and the rest just look at them” said

Rahul Gandhi.

“We believe everyone in this country must believe that this country belongs to them. When every citizen feels that there is a

place for him, this country does the best possible. We grew fastest when we work in partnerships. We made a strong foundation

under the feet of the poor. We gave the right to food and job to them. We enacted RTI act to enable everyone to gather any

information about the government” argued the Congress Vice President.

“When we came out with a right based paradigm, the right to job, right to food, right to information, we never said that these

rights would be for a particular caste, religion or region. We said regardless who you are in this country- man, woman, Hindu,

Muslim, Sikh, from whichever state you are, we guarantee you the rights” commented Rahul Gandhi.

Striking a chord with women, the young Congress leader continued, “If you look at Kerala and its success, there is a big role for

the women. The best nurses in the world are from Kerala and they look after sick people across the globe. We, therefore, want

to empower women in the rst of our country and we have already put the bill to grant 33% reservation for women in Parliament

and Assemblies. That is why we are guaranteeing 2000 police stations fully dedicated to them. That is why we connected lakhs

of women with banks through Self Help Groups (SHG) which has been very successful in the state”.

“The most important thing for me as the Vice President of the Congress party is to strengthen the party and to give you more

power. We will make the party strong, its ideas and ideology strong” said Rahul Gandhi while concluding his speech.

Full text of the speech of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi at Idukki, Kerala

I am always happy to visit Kerlala and I am interested to know more about the politics in Kerala, the participation of people in

the politics, the participation of Panchayats in politics of Kerala. Our opposition talks about one leader but in Kerala the Congress

party talks about thousands and millions of leaders. We have leaders at every single level in Kerala. And this is the politics of the

21st century. If you want to change, if you want to fight corruption we want to empower every citizen. It is this participatory

politics of Kerala that inspires me.

Today we have broadly three ideologies. One is that of Left which talks against poverty but creates poverty among the educated.

They say everyone should be same and poor. The other side you have the India Shining idea. They want few people handle

entire wealth of this country and want to give entire power to a limited group. They are not interested in the future of the

people or nation. The third idea, the most focal idea is that of Congress. We want prosperity and we want fairness.

We want more business but at the same time we want to ensure that with encouraging business we must also empower our

people. We want to create industry that creates jobs to our people. We want the poorest people of this country dream the

biggest dream possible. We don’t want a country where a selected group enjoys all facilities and the rest just look at them.

It is very interesting to look at the last ten years of the UPA government at the Centre. Not only we have done MNREGA, Right to

Food, Right to Education, right to information and took about 15 crore people out of poverty, we also let the country grow faster

than our opposition’ regime. We built more colleges and constructed more roads. It is our best belief that our country does best

when there is peace and happiness.

We believe everyone in this country must believe that this country belongs to them. When every citizen feels that there is a

place for him, this country does the best possible. We grew fastest when we work in partnerships. We made a strong foundation

under the feet of the poor. We gave the right to food and job to them. We enacted RTI act to enable everyone to gather any

information about the government.

When we came out with a right based paradigm, the right to job, right to food, right to information, we never said that these

rights would be for a particular caste, religion or region. We said regardless who you are in this country- man, woman, Hindu,

Muslim, Sikh, from whichever state you are, we guarantee you the rights.

They must realise that success always comes from partnerships. UPA govt has been successful in the past ten years because we

built a partnership between the business and poor people. The UPA govt built a partnership between different sections of

people, belonging to all caste, religions and regions, across the country. We want every single person believes that there is a

place and future for him in the country.

That is why I always talk about role of women in all my speeches. If you look at Kerala and its success, there is a big role for the

women. The best nurses in the world are from Kerala and they look after sick people across the globe. We, therefore, want to

empower women in the rst of our country and we have already put the bill to grant 33% reservation for women in Parliament

and Assemblies. That is why we are guaranteeing 2000 police stations fully dedicated to them. That is why we connected lakhs

of women with banks through Self Help Groups (SHG) which has been very successful in the state.

For the poor, we are going to give them two new rights. Like right to food, right to job now we plan to give them right to

healthcare by giving free treatment and medicines. We also plan to right to pensions. The new industrial corridors – Delhi-

Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Chennai- Bangalore and Delhi-Kolkata- will generate millions of jobs for our youth. We will have all

modern infrastructures in that corridor. We want to connect you to this corridor. We also plan a Kochi-Coimbatore and

Trivandrum-Sri Perumbatore corridor. Today China is the manufacturing capital of the world. We want India to replace China in

the future.

As I had said, we have lifted 15 crore people out of poverty. Now a new class of people has been created, those are above

poverty line but below the middle class. These are the carpenters, security guards, mechanics, drivers, plumbers. They are the

backbone of the country. There are 70 cr people who fall in this category. Our entire focus is to take this 70 cr people to the

middle class. We want to open the doors of education and health care systems for them. We want to give them all their children

opportunity for higher education to make their dreams come true. I want all you feel that this country belongs to you also.

Congress party believes in listening to the people. On the Kasturi Rangan report we listened to you. I want to assure you that

nothing is going to happen if the people of Kerala do not want. Environment is important but for us the vision of people of

Kerala is also important. We will stand by the people of Kerala.

You have a young candidate here and I want you to send him to the Lok Sabha. I want to you to elect him so that he can

represent you as well as change the state of India. I am thankful to the huge number of Congress workers who have come here.

You are the backbone of our party and you work hard for the party. You take our ideas to the people, fight CPM and its ideas,

and you oppose them.

The most important thing for me as the Vice President of the Congress party is to strengthen the party and to give you more

power. We will make the party strong, its ideas and ideology strong.

Thank you

Jai Hind