Rahul Gandhi: Tamil Nadu being ‘remote-controlled’ by Modi; job creation, farmers priority for Congress

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday promised to give a massive boost to Tamil Nadu by supporting entrepreneurship in the state that was not just a centre for job creation but also has the capacity to fight the Chinese in manufacturing.

Kicking off his tour of the state with a dynamic interaction with a group of women students at Stella Maris College in Chennai, Rahul Gandhi addressed the media before flying off to Nagercoil to address the first campaign meeting for the April 18 Lok Sabha polls and said that once elected to power he would be provide 33 per cent reservation of women in all job.

Wondering why Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not meet the media or interact with people, he asked ‘Why is he scared of conversations? Why is he hiding?’

He said that there was an attack on Tamil culture and language under the present regime. He said Tamil Nadu was being ‘remote-controlled’ by Modi from New Delhi and that it was an insult to the people of the state.

On his future plans for governance, he said that he had a ‘revolutionary idea’, under which a Minimum Basic Income Guarantee would be given to everyone below the minimum income line and it would be done through direct bank transfer.

Answering a question of education, he said the budget for education would be substantially increased. Pointing out that the Modi government was appointing people of a particular ideological shade as vice-chancellor of universities, he said his government would allow academia the required functional freedom.

He accused the Modi government of destroying institutions like the Supreme Court, Reserve Bank of India and so on and said ‘we respect institutions.’ His government would treat everyone fairly and that he believed in decentralization of power.

To a question on waiver of farmers’ loans, he said it has been done in all the Congress ruled states and that it would be done positively because he is aware how central farmers are to the economy of the country. After job creation, his agenda was to save the farmers, he said.

For job creation, which is the number one priority, he said it would happen in the small and medium businesses, which would be encouraged by opening the banks to them.

On the Rafale deal, he said Modi and Anil Ambani have stolen ₹30,000 crore of people’s money and that they should be punished. Newspaper expose had proved Modi to be corrupt. The entire opposition in the country was united for the Lok Sabha elections to fight the Prime Minister and RSS.