New Delhi/ Ahmedabad: On the last day of the Gujarat poll campaign, a combative Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi predicted a zabardast (tremendous) win for the party due to a strong undercurrent against the ruling BJP and hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comments insinuating that his predecessor, Dr Manmohan Singh, colluded with Pakistan to influence the outcome of the state polls.
“The Congress will win the election... the results will be zabardast,” said Mr Gandhi. Mr Gandhi also raised the issue of atrocities against dalits in Gujarat.
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“It is for the first time in an election that Modiji has not spoken about corruption...about farmers. There is (zabardast) tremendous undercurrent (against the BJP). Be it Patidars, OBCs, Dalits, farmers....all are angry. Public mood has undergone ‘zabardast’ change.
“The Congress will win the election....the results will be ‘zabardast’,” a confident-looking Gandhi said.
Mr Gandhi, addressing his first presser after his elevation, said, in his new job, he would strive to change the nature of political discourse in the country which has become “ugly and nasty”.
He questioned Modi’s silence on allegations against BJP president Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, a charge the Gandhi scion raked up repeatedly at the hustings, and alleged irregularities in the Rafale fighter jet deal.
Replying to a question on Mr Modi’s remarks over Pakistan meddling in the Gujarat polls, Gandhi said, “I have made my stand clear from day one, in words and in action. Modiji is the Prime Minister of our country. Mani Shankar Aiyar said something and I made it clear that I would not tolerate it. You have seen the action.”
“But what Modiji has said about former prime minister Manmohan Singh is not acceptable. Manmohan Singhji was also the prime minister of this country, served and made sacrifices for this country,” the 47-year-old leader said. Addressing an rally in Palanpur in Gujarat on Sunday, Modi had sought to suggest that Pakistan was trying to influence the assembly polls in the state.
Modi claimed some current and former Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at Aiyar’s house over dinner on December 6, and a day later Aiyar made the “neech” jibe against him. Aiyar was suspended from the party. “Narendra Modiji is my political opponent. He speaks many wrong things about me. But as he is Prime Minister, not a single bad word will come out of my mouth for him.
“I want to change the political discourse. It has become ugly, it has become nasty. The atmosphere is filled with anger,” he noted. Gandhi said he would like to spread the Congress’s ideology that politics should be done through “love”.
