Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru could never have imagined that a government would be installed in the country that would call them “deshdrohi (traitors)”, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Monday. She also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his language on the campaign trail.
Addressing party workers in the Rae Bareli constituency, the Congress general secretary said, “Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru undertook movements so that the people’s rights could be strengthened. They could never have imagined that a government would come that would call them traitors and say (to people) ’if you give us 400 seats, we will change the Constitution’.”
“They could not even have imagined that the government itself would try to weaken our people,” she said. Priyanka Gandhi also referred to farmers’ protests during the British Raj. She said, “The farmers’ protests during the time of Motilal Nehru and Jawaharlal Nehru — the first time when Motilal Nehru and Jawaharlal Nehru were arrested, it was in Rae Bareli when they had come to participate.”
“Since then, during all the fights and elections in Rae Bareli, there was democracy and truth on one side while on the other side it was terror and a (kind of) politics that never considered the people ‘sarvopari (above everything)’. In this fight, you always ensured victory for truth and the principles of democracy,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting the elections from Rae Bareli, a constituency held by his mother Sonia Gandhi for the last two decades. Priyanka Gandhi also claimed that Indira Gandhi was not angry when she lost the elections from Rae Bareli. “She learnt from that defeat She deliberated, took another path, and won the next elections,” she said.
During her speech, the Congress leader also tried to strike a chord with the audience. “This is the soil with which the blood of my family is mixed. This is the sacred land for which your ancestors sacrificed their lives. Today, we are fighting for the self-respect of the people and their rights. We will have to fight this battle with strength. This is the most pious soil of the country and we are fighting for everything that our ancestors fought for,” she said.
Priyanka Gandhi also credited the Congress’ Amethi candidate Kishori Lal Sharma for teaching her how to conduct elections. “Kishori Lal Sharma ji, our candidate from Amethi, is present on the stage. I have learnt how to conduct elections from Kishori Lal Sharma ji,” she said.
“This time, I told him ’I will make you contest the elections and you will win’. That is why I have come here, to make my elder brother (Rahul Gandhi) and Kishori Lal ji contest the elections.” Rae Bareli and Amethi go to the polls on May 20.
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