Rahul Gandhi in Punjab addresses Congress rally; describes Prime Minister as his political guru

Sangrur: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi while addressing a mammoth rally in Punjab’s Singrur, showered praises on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his efforts for development and also called him as his political guru.

When I was attending the inauguration of the Hospital today (Vijay Indra) Singlaji told me that ‘today is the happiest day of my life”. I could see tears in his eyes. Yes.. this is a happy moment. If you have this hospital here today, it is because of Ghulam Nabi Azad who sanctioned it and because Singlahi who applied pressure for this.

You must have heard about my comment on Ordinance (on convicted lawmakers) opposing the same.  When I was visiting Gujarat recently I had an interaction with the media. The press persons asked me about my comment on the Ordinance. I had said that such an Ordinance is nonsense. The journalists commented that I made the statement on Ordinance at a wrong time. I asked them whether my said comment was right or wrong. They replied that what I said was right. So, I asked them whether there is any fixed time to tell the truth! Has that time come in Indian politics that one should search for auspicious time to tell the truth? I want to change this. We must tell the truth if we want to fight corruption.

While I was coming here, I was just thinking what to speak about today at this rally. Even my colleagues in office complain that I do not speak based on the points prepared by them. It is correct also.. I note down the points but rarely use it in my speeches. Today also I was thinking about a topic on which I can talk. Suddenly an incident came to my mind.

When I was a kid, one day my father – who was a pilot like Capt. Amrinder Singh, was about to fly an aircraft. My mother looked at the sky and noticed that weather was bad.  She complained to me and Priyanka (Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) that weather is not conducive to fly aircraft but our father is going ahead. After that, whenever my father leaves we used to look at the sky to see whether climate is good or bad.

Why I am telling this now? There is a reason. I can see good number of women in front me. We all get strength from them. When a mother is scared, a house is also scared and when a house is under scare, entire nation will be scared.
I am sure that there won’t be a single mother in Punjab who is not bothered about her children. The main reason for that fear is the menace of drugs.
We now talk about right to food. I can tell you that Punjab provides food to the entire country. I want to assert that without the farmers of Punjab and Haryana we cannot ensure food security in our country.

But the youth in Punjab also have a fear. They worry whether they would be able to fetch a good job to support their families. The mothers in Punjab fear about the menace of drugs and the youth have the fear of unemployment. These two fears are prevailing here. We need to take out fears of drugs and unemployment from Punjab to take this state forward.

There is no problem with the people of Punjab. You only gave me Manmohan Singh Ji (PM). I have two gurus in politics; one is the Congress President and the other is Dr. Manmohan Singh. I also want to underline that no one else has done so much development work for our country as done by Manmohan Singhji.. You only give him to us. The most important quality of a politician must be good intention. If intention is clear, we can achieve everything. Manmohan Singh ji has a pure intention.

We run a government (at the centre) from 2004. We have redefined the concept of development. People ask us what UPA has done for the people. We initiated the politics of granting rights to the people. What we decided is to give people their rights – without any discrimination of caste, religion or region.
We gave you the right to job, right to education, right to food and right to information. These rights empowered the people in our country. RTI acts as a powerful tool to fight corruption. It gave strength to the people. Anyone can get any information about government activities and the facts which were earlier hid behind the closed doors have now started coming out in open.
Who brought such powerful laws? It is not BJP but the Congress did it. Please see what is happening in BJP ruled states.. what is the status of RTI commissioner.. you can see it.

Congress implemented such laws to empower the people; to give people more strength. Remember, we will not stop.. but will continue with such efforts.
Congress implemented Panchayati Raj system. The youth of 21st century want to empower themselves. Even today, we are not yet wholly successful in empowering rural poor despite Panchayati Raj. Congress is trying to solve this problem. We want to empower the rural poor and aam aadmi.

I also want to tell something about women. Till we induct more and more women into politics, we cannot develop. If we want achieve the expected growth, we want more and more women in politics.

Elections are approaching.  I am sure that Congress will win both the Lok Sabha and next Assembly polls in Punjab. There is no doubt about it. We believe in inclusive politics. We want development by including every section of the society. 

I had visited riot-hit Muzaffarnagar riots. Hindus and Muslims died in the riots..I spoke to both communities, they told me, there is no anger between them. They love each other. It was the politicians who have created this rift.  The feeling of hatred was spread by BJP and SP. They told me that the riots were orchestrated by these people. . No politician dies in riots, the common man does. No political leader died in Muzaffarnagar. Poor people, journalists and the person who fight for common people died there. No one had any benefit. It is the poor who suffer the most due to riots. They love peace.

I want to request one thing to Akali Dal leaders. There are a lot of farmers who put in their hard work in Gujarat. Some of them have come to me with tears in their eyes complaining about the atrocities they face in Gujarat. They face the threat of eviction by the Gujarat Government. I agree, they are from Punjab and are working in Gujarat; but ultimately they are Indians first then only Punjabis.

This is a wrong politics and a bad policy of the Gujarat Government. I, therefore, request the Akalidal Government here to please advice your partner in government (BJP) to stop such misdeeds and give back the lands of farmers to your people.

I just wanted to share these points to you. Before concluding, I want to tell that our country cannot progress without the people of Punjab as it ios the people of Punjab who provide food to the entire nation. I will never forget this and I am thankful to all of you for this.
Thank you.

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