Addressing a massive rally at Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh’s Surajpur district with a replica of the “Red Fort” in the backdrop, symbolising his focus on Delhi, the BJP’s prospective prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a broadside against Congress heir apparent Rahul Gandhi for allegedly describing poverty as a state of mind.
Without taking the Gandhi scion’s name, Mr Modi observed, “I am really surprised at what he (Mr Gandhi) said on poverty (being a state of mind). His grandmother (late Indira Gandhi) would have been sad”. He added, “The person on whom Congress is banking thinks poverty is mere a mental state. His statement amounts to making a mockery of the poor in the country”.
In a tweet later, taking a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr Modi asked if he wasn’t already working under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.
“PM talks of happily working under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership next year! Wasn’t he doing the same all these years? Misleading the nation again?” he tweeted.
Addressing a sea of people gathered at the venue on the conclusion of the 30-day statewide Vikas Yatra by Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, the Gujarat chief minister said he was at pains to learn about the parameters of poverty set by some Union ministers and the Planning Commission headed by prime minister Manmohan Singh.
“The Planning Commission has said that a family can easily live with an earning of `32 per day in urban India. One cannot get even a two cupfuls of tea with `32, forget about two square meals. I am seriously concerned that people sitting in Delhi do not know how much the poor spend”, he said.
Describing the UPA government at the Centre as “insensitive and inhuman”, he said, “We have a government which functions arrogantly and does not feel that it is accountable to people.”
In contrast, he maintained, all the BJP governments headed by Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh and by Manohar Parikar in Goa have been working hard to fulfil aspirations of the people of their respective states. “The Congress does not treat people as citizens, but as burdens,” he said.