Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Mumbai (erstwhile
Bombay) was marked by poor attendance, a snub by their local “ally” Sharad
Pawar of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and his usual foot-in-the-mouth-itis.
The rally was to be jointly addressed by Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar. These
are two biggies who cannot be ignored. But Sonia Gandhi pleaded ill-health and
sent her ladla Rahul instead
(allegedly it was her effort to push Rahul to the forefront in the most
important city in the country). Pawar, who has made no bones about his
non-acceptance of Rahul came to Bombay but refused to go to the venue. It sure
was a game of snub-for greater snub.
Rahul started the meeting three hours later
than the scheduled time in Bandra-Kurla Complex’s (BKC) MMRDA ground. This ground
witnessed a three lakh turnout for Narendra Modi’s rally in December 2013. (It
was probably also the time of Modi’s famous Rs. 5/- tickets for his rallies.
The ticket fee had led to a hilarious exchange between Congress and BJP. Congress
made a statement about how people had to pay to hear Modi speak to which BJP
retorted that India had had to spend a lot of money for a Prime Minister who
did not speak!). The long wait and information about Sonia’s and Pawar’s
non-attendance saw the crowd dwindling. As per Congress there was a 1,00,000
strong crowd but as per the police the crowd was merely 35,000. (See this in the
report in Mumbai Mirror April 21, 2014 @ http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/).
But whether speaking to one person (Arnab
Goswami) or more, Rahul Gandhi is an unfazed rollercoaster of the absurd. In
the 35-minute diatribe against Modi in the meeting, the person born in the most
privileged family of the country said: “BJP leaders don’t even know what
poverty is and they haven’t seen the pain of sleeping on an empty stomach…”
Wow! Rahul of the First Family of Privilege of India knows about poverty and the
pain of sleeping on an empty stomach? This concept is beyond the realms of
possibility and plausibility. What more, he
knows more about poverty than a man born in a small town, nay, village, who
actually operated a tea stall at the city bus stand? Crown Prince knows more
about poverty than a Chaiwallah? This is so totally beyond belief that you’re
only left sputtering incredulity.
This is rich indeed coming from the same
person who, on August 6, 2013 has said in Allahabad: “Poverty is just a state
of mind. It does not mean the scarcity of food, money or material things. If
one possesses self-confidence, then one can overcome poverty.” This comes from a Party that had their
Planning Commission declare that anyone who spends more than Rs. 33 per day in
urban areas is above the poverty line and the then Chief Minister of Delhi,
Sheila Dixit claim that Rs. 600 per month is adequate to buy dal, roti
and chawal for a family of five. (Applying
basic mathematics will reveal that as per this claim, Sheila Dixit and Congress
believe that Rs. 4/- a day is enough for one person. If the Congress really
believes this then why all those scams?)
Rahul went on to assure that if re-elected, Congress would
take 70 crore people out of poverty (in what time span?) and then went on to
add that they had already pulled 15 crore people out of poverty (does he mean
in the last decade?). The context of the
statements made by members of Congress (including Rahul Gandhi and Sheila
Dixit) during 2013 begs the question: did the 15 crores come out of poverty
because “Poverty does not exist” or because Rs. 600/- is enough to feed a
family of five for a month? Did the 15 crore people come out of poverty because
they got work or because the definition of poverty got revised?
As a wit recently said: BJP and Congress
are both saying the same thing: If Congress wins Rahul Gandhi will become the
Prime Minister. Think about this and
decide whether Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi is a promise or a threat to you.