Banswara (Raj): Sharpening his attack on the BJP, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said there was only one thing it did better than Congress - corruption - and branded the opposition party as "masters" in it.
The Congress Vice President claimed that while Congress did better than BJP on all other fronts including development, it had surrendered before the opposition party on the corruption front.
"Today I can acknowledge one thing from this dais. They do only one thing better than us. They do corruption the best. One can see this in BJP-ruled states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and others. They are the masters in corruption and they are way ahead of us. We surrender on this issue before them," he said at a poll meeting here.
Gandhi also hit out at BJP for not standing up for the rights of the poor, saying the opposition party while opposing various social sector schemes for welfare of the poor had said they were "a waste of money".
In his attempt to woo tribals here, the Congress leader claimed the Congress always stood up for the rights of not just the poor but also for tribals and Dalits.
Gandhi said elections were important, but people need to distinguish between two parties and their ideologies. He said while the BJP made tall claims in their speeches, they never stood by the poor, while Congress thought about the poor and their welfare along with development.
He said the wall of poverty that stood before the poor needs to be broken for them to progress fast and promised that Congress will break this wall to take them forward.
Gandhi said, "Elections here are important but here the fight is not between two parties. It is the fight between two thoughts."
Admitting that electricity, roads and infrastructure were needed for moving forward, he said Congress has constructed three times more roads and generated five times more power than the previous BJP regime.
But at the same time, he said, his party moved beyond that to remove the wall of poverty that existed before the poor.
"We say roads should be constructed and railway lines laid. We go beyond that. We say that our tribals, Dalits and poor cannot benefit only by construction of roads and railway lines. They need more.
"There is a wall in front of them - that of poverty - and that wall cannot be broken by just building roads and other infrastructure. That is why we bring different schemes of employment and talk of Food Security and Right to Education. If this wall is not broken, you cannot move forward," he said.
Gandhi said Congress provided 100 days' of guaranteed employment for the poor, irrespective of where they came from and which caste, creed or religion they belonged to.
"...When we did this, what did the opposition say? They said money is being wasted."
"When your land is taken away, they don't say the poor man's land is being snatched. Then they say land has to be taken. When it is a matter of the poor, they keep quiet. Listen to their speeches.
They talk of big things. But when it comes to holding the hand of the poor, they keep silent. They don't utter a single word for the poor," he said, seeking to strike an emotional chord with the audience.
Talking about Right to Food provided by his government, the Congress leader said there was no place for hunger in this country and thus his party provided food at cheaper rates to the poor without discriminating from where one came or to which religion or caste the person belonged.
