Indian PM Modi Criticized over Hindu-Muslim Divide
Thousands of Indians rallied under Rahul Gandhi over soaring unemployment and rising food and fuel prices.
Gandhi accused Modi of pursuing policies benefitting big business groups at the expense of small and medium industries and poor farmers and workers, adding that people were being affected by unemployment as well as price rise.
“Narendra Modiji asks what has Congress done in 70 years? I will say this, that in 70 years, Congress has not shown such price rise to the country,” he said during his speech at Ramlila Ground in the capital, New Delhi.
He said the government is weakening the country by creating an atmosphere of fear and hatred, in reference to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) policy of Hindu-Muslim polarization.
“Together we will defeat the ideology of the BJP and the RSS,” he said, referring to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – the Hindu supremacist organization that is the BJP’s ideological mentor.
The prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and essential food data-x-items like wheat have shot up 40-175 percent since Modi came to power eight years ago, according to the Congress leader.
He said Modi has been working for the benefit of two big industrialists, without naming them. The two key corporate groups were running India’s ports, airports, oil refineries, information technology sector and big media houses, he said.
He accused Modi of creating two Indias: “one which belongs to the poor where no dream could be accomplished, and the other of a few big businessmen where every dream can be achieved”.
The Modi government, however, has defended its policies, saying it has provided millions of people with toilets, cooking gas connections, drinking water, bank accounts, free health insurance and homes since it first came to power in 2014.
Last month, the central bank hiked interest rates to curb inflation.
Source: Al Jazeera
