Not afraid of PM Narendra Modi's ED, CBI: Rahul Gandhi in Haridwar

Manglaur: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said he is not afraid of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or "his enforcement agencies" and finds his "arrogance" amusing. The Wayanad Congress MP said the BJP changed its chief ministers in Uttarakhand as they were all corrupt and "replaced one thief with another".

Addressing a rally at Manglaur in Haridwar district ahead of the assembly polls in the state, the Gandhi scion said, "PM Modi said in an interview recently that I don't listen to him. He was right. I don't listen to him because I am not afraid of him or his CBI and ED."

He said the Centre's three agri laws were withdrawn only because of the country's farmers and the Congress. "The Congress alone can fight PM Modi," he said. He said Congress wants a government of the poor and unemployed in Uttarakhand and not that of a "King" who sits in Delhi.

Rahul Gandhi said he finds PM Modi's arrogance amusing. It reflects his arrogance when he (Modi) says nothing was done in the country in the last 70 years, he said.

"Does he mean to say this country was asleep for 70 years and woke up after he came to power? Then how were these roads built, how were these rail lines laid -- by magic” he asked.

He also said the BJP changed its chief ministers in Uttarakhand as they were all corrupt. "There is a long line of thieves in BJP. It only replaced one thief with another in Uttarakhand," he said.

Reiterating his "two Indias" charge, Gandhi said one India consists of a chosen few billionaires and the other of the poor and the unemployed. Measures like the noteban and GST ruined small and medium businessmen, he said.

"The note ban achieved only one thing - it turned the black money into white and the BJP got it all," he said. Gandhi also charged PM Modi with failure to battle the Covid pandemic, saying when people were badly in need of oxygen and ventilators in the country, the government left them to fend for themselves.

Lakhs of labourers were left on the roads along with their families and when the Congress offered to take them in buses to their homes, the BJP governments refused to take the help, he said.

The Congress leader claimed that the UPA pulled 27 crore people out of their poverty in 10 years while the Modi government had pushed 23 crore people into poverty in the last five years.

He said the Congress manifesto 'Char Dham, Char Kam' prepared after talking to every section of the society, promises not to let the price of LPG cylinder exceed Rs 500, employment to four lakh youth, Rs 40,000 per annum to five lakh poor families and to take basic healthcare services to every doorstep.