Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday that law should apply equally to all citizens of the country, and not “selectively”.
At an interaction with women students at a college in Chennai, Gandhi, in response to a question on a money laundering case in which his brother-in-law Robert Vadra was being investigated, said: “I will be the first person to say it...Investigate Robert Vadra but also investigate Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.
He was referring to allegations of manipulation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the controversial Rafale deal.
Asking students to call him Rahul instead of ‘sir’, he reiterated his allegations about the pricing of the aircraft and the process.
“Modi is a corrupt man, he bypassed negotiations and ran parallel negotiations on the Rafale deal,” Gandhi alleged while responding to the question.
He said Modi “should have the guts” to face the press.
He spoke about the prevailing mood of “fear” in the country, saying economic growth was directly related to the mood of the nation and one could not expect it to happen in a negative and fearful atmosphere, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday.
He also alleged that the BJP’s idea is to capture every institution of the country and run them from Nagpur, the RSS headquarters.
Gandhi said the Congress would pass the women’s reservation bill if it came to power.
“Don’t see enough women in leadership positions. You cannot have women in power in India until the attitude towards them changes,” he told the cheering crowd.
In response to a question, he said he had learnt the lessons of humility and love from his mother Sonia Gandhi.
He asked the gathering, “Did you like demonetisation?” When the audience answered, “No”, he said, “I think it’s pretty clear the damage the demonetisation did. The PM should have taken your advice.”
Gandhi, who asked the students to challenge him and “make him uncomfortable”, wondered whether the Prime Minister could stand in a large audience and answer people’s questions.
Referring to Modi’s policies on Jammu and Kashmir, he said these were setting fire to the state and blamed the Centre for not strategically and systematically handling terrorism.
As soon as Modi assumed power, he made a “huge mistake” of forging an alliance with the PDP just for the sake of power.
“Today, Narendra Modi ji’s policies are actually setting fire to Kashmir,” he said, alleging that it was his policies that were allowing Pakistan to carry out terrorist acts in India.
Gandhi underscored the need to engage the people of Kashmir and bring them “on our side”. The Prime Minister’s policies “push the people away so you cannot fight terrorism with one-off gestures”, he said.
Noting that it was “our responsibility” to stop the neighbouring country from carrying out terror strikes and save our people, Gandhi said, “It is not good enough to say that 45 CRPF men died and now we will do something.” He sought to know why the attack (in Pulwama) was not stopped in the first place.
Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on February 14 in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.
Claiming that the Congress pursued a policy of systematic and strategic approach in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the NDA government had not followed a similar policy. “We actually crushed terrorism,” he said and referred to the “drastic fall” in the number of soldiers and people killed during the UPA’s tenure.
The Congress followed a multi-pronged approach when it came to power in 2004 and toed both systematic and strategic lines, he said. “And it was successful,” he said, adding it had led to diplomatic isolation of Pakistan.
Gandhi also called his party’s minimum income guarantee scheme a revolutionary idea.
‘What about Vadra’s links with arms dealers’
The BJP hit back with allegations of links between Gandhi-Vadra family and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.
Union Minister Smriti Irani cited documentary evidence to establishing transactions between them and Bhandari as well as some others saying facts available with the press showed Gandhi-Vadra family defined “paarivarik bhrashtachar” (dynastic corruption), and now the Gandhi family had exploited the 70 years”.
“Rahul Gandhi is the real face of corruption. He should explain this by calling a press briefing and also clarify his connection with Sanjay Bhandari,” she said, also shooting down Gandhi’s claim that the prime minister was “hiding” from media. “Sanjay Bhandari, an arms dealer with close links to Robert Vadra, is also under investigation for defence deals and his desperate desire to be party to ill-gotten fruits of corruption during UPA regime.”
Irani said reports suggested that HL Pahwa was “suitably financed and supported” by CC Thampi, who also figures in the probe with regard to a petroleum deal under UPA and a financial violation with regard to a land transaction in Delhi-NCR.
“The relationship between CC Thampi and arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari is publicly known. Hence, the nation has come to a conclusion that Rahul Gandhi’s intervention in the defence preparedness of our country stems from his pursuit not only of individual politics but his personal commercial interests, his personal family interests,” said Irani.
According to reports Gandhi had purchased 6.5 acres of land located at Hassanpur at a subsidised rate from Pahwa. Bhandari was booked by the ED in 2016 based on an Income Tax Department and Delhi police complaint of his alleged indulgence in dubious defence deals and land deals.
Meanwhile earlier, the Congress chief said the PM should have guts to face the media and asked why he was “hiding”. In response to a question on his brother-in-law Robert Vadra, he said “I will be the first person to say it... Investigate Robert Vadra but also investigate Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
In its reaction to BJP’s response, Congress said Rahul Gandhi bought Hassanpur land with his own money and his own account. Priyanka later gifted the land to spiritual organisation.
The Congress said that facing imminent defeat in the general elections and finding no answer to the rampant joblessness, agrarian crisis, economic slowdown, all pervading corruption and social unrest, “a frustrated Modi Government and its perpetually peeved Union Ministers like Smriti Irani, have lost their balance and equilibrium”.
“Blinded by unprecedented revenge against Congress President and Congress leaders, they are resorting to manufacturing fake and fanciful lies and web of deceit on a daily basis as was done today by Smt. Smriti Irani. The entire set of allegations is the figment of Modiji’s imagination being hurled to divert people’s attention. They must know that they the entire set of false of false mudslinging will expose them before the people of India.
The Congress statement said:
1. On March 3, 2008 Shri Rahul Gandhi purchased 51 Kanal 13 Marla (= 6.456 acres) of Sailab Land in Hassanpur Village, Tehsil Hodal, District Palwal in Haryana.
The land was purchased for a total purchase price of Rs. 26,47,000 (Rupees Twenty-Six Lacs and Forty-Seven Thousand) paid for by cheque, which is the equivalent of Rs. 4,10,006 (Rupees Four Lacs Ten Thousand and Six) per acre.
The prevailing Collector Rate for Sailab Land in Hassanpur Village, Tehsil Hodal for 2007-08 and as of 3 March 2008 (the date of purchase) was Rs.1,50,000 per acre.
Shri Gandhi paid Stamp Duty of 6% amounting to Rs. 1,58,820 (Rupees One Lac and Fifty-Eight Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty) on the purchase price of Rs. 26,47,000 at a rate of Rs. 4,10,006 per acre (i.e. at over 2.7x the prevailing Collector Rate).
2. On 26 July 2012, Shri Rahul Gandhi gifted this 6.4 acres of land to Smt. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra through a registered gift deed, registered in the office of sub-registrar. They also paid Stamp Duty of Rs 1,93,700 on the registered gift deed.
3. On 12 August 2014, Smt. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra gifted this 6.4 acres (51 Kanal 13 Marla) in Hassanpur Village, Tehsil Hodal, District Palwal in Haryana to Vipassana Sadhna Sansthan, a not for profit spiritual organisation.
4. Purchase of land was done by Shri Rahul Gandhi out of his own funds paid from his Bank Account. At no point of time, this purchase of a small piece of land and consequent gift to a spiritual organization has any connection with any individual, whatsoever.
