Rahul, Priyanka lack optimism to see the brighter side: Nadda

PTI, Nov 13, 2024, 7:14 PM IST

BJP president J P Nadda on Wednesday claimed that Congres leaders Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra do not have the positive attitude of seeing the brighter side and wondered if he should teach them economics.

Speaking to media professionals ahead of the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls, he also took a jibe at Rahul’s “mohabbat ki dukan” (shop of love) pitch, saying it sells tools of division.

India’s growth rate is 6.8 per cent, and the country is the world’s third-largest automobile market, Nadda claimed, and attacked the Congress for harping over unemployment and inflation.

“People in rural areas also purchase vehicles. Will they do so if they don’t have money? What to say to the brother-sister duo. Should I teach them economics,” he wondered without naming the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress general secretary “They don’t have the habit of seeing the brighter side,” Nadda claimed.

The BJP chief called the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modi pro-poor and pro-farmer and said 53 crore bank accounts have been opened in the country since 2014, when his party rode to power and continued its winning streak for two subsequent terms.

Assistance under schemes is being transferred to people’s accounts through DBT (direct benefit transfers), he said, asserting that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have called India’s economy stable.

In Modi’s third term, India will be the world’s third-largest economy, said Nadda, and claimed that “India is manufacturing effective and cheapest medicines”.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi will form a “brake government” if it returns to power, the senior BJP leader said, suggesting that the grouping of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) will slow down development in the state.

Nadda claimed that the Congress has submitted to “urban Naxals” and accused Rahul Gandhi of pursuing the agenda of anti-nationals. “They must be taught a lesson,” he said.

The BJP president also targeted Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray alleging that he has cosied up to the Congress despite his father and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s bitter opposition to the grand old party.

Bal Thackeray had said that he would rather shut down his party than join hands with the Congress, claimed Nadda.

“Uddhav Thackeray is sitting on the lap of those who would flee Mumbai fearing Bal Thackeray. Isn’t this dilution and deviation from ideology for power,” he asked.

Nadda also accused the Congress of indulging in pseudo-secularism and appeasement politics and said former PM Manmohan Singh had said that Muslims had the first right over the country’s resources.

He also slammed the Congress over its repeated demands for a caste census in the country, calling them not genuine.

“There are 27 OBC (other backward class) ministers in the Modi cabinet. How many OBCs were in the National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi and the Congress Working Committee? And these people call themselves champions of OBC causes. Even PM Modi is from the OBC community,” he said.

Former PMs Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had put the Kalelkar and Mandal Commission reports (on backward classes) in cold storage, Nadda claimed.

Alleging that the Congress works towards splitting society, the BJP chief said, “In Rahul Gandhi’s ‘mohabbat ki dukan’, tools of division are sold.” Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will be held on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23. P