PM Modi politicised Pulwama terror attack even when Congress did not: Rahul Gandhi

Kangra (Himachal Pradesh): Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of politicisng the Pulwama terror attack.

“We did not politicise the Pulwama attack in the days following the incident. We held a press conference and said that the Congress party stands with the Defence forces and the government. But it's unfortunate that when the Congress and other parties were standing in solidarity with the government, the Prime Minister politicised the issue," Rahul said while addressing party’s campaign for the Lok Sabha election due in April-May.

On February 14, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy while moving from Jammu to Srinagar in Lethpora area of South Kashmir's Pulwama district. Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed the responsibility of the attack.

Rahul promised that if the Congress is voted to power after the 2019 general elections, the party will give "martyr status" to all paramilitary personnel who have sacrificed their lives for the country.

"I believe that any paramilitary personnel who have sacrificed his life for the country should be given the status of a martyr, irrespective of the force he belongs to. We have decided to give the status of martyr to any security person who sacrifices his life for the country after we form a government in 2019 elections," he said.

Hitting out at Modi over controversial Rafale deal, Rahul accused the Prime Minister of changing the fighter jets deal on his own.

 “Rafale was biggest defence contract in the world, PM Modi changed the contract on his own”, he said adding that Modi gave the contract of Rs 30,000 crore to business tycoon Anil Ambani, who has no experience of manufacturing the fighter aircraft.

The Congress chief said, "Prime Minister Modi promised a special package to Himachal. Congress has waived off farmers’ loans in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. But the Centre has waived off loans of 15 big industrialists, but not of the farmers."

Continuing his tirade against the Modi government over demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST), Rahul claimed that only poor people stood in line at banks during the demonetisation. He added if the Congress is voted to power, the party will change the GST structure.

"Only poor people stood in line at banks, not rich people, during demonetisation. The money went to banks and from there it went to these rich people’s pockets. Unemployment is highest in 40 years. Modi ji imposed the GST at midnight. Ask any small trader if GST helped them. The GST infact helped the rich businessmen. We will change the GST structure. We will give you simple GST once voted to power in 2019 Lok Sabha polls," he claimed.

Talking about the farmers, the Congress chief said, "Farmers pay insurance, but the government gave this money to the businessmen. Congress will give a minimum income guarantee to all poor people in the country."

Concluding his speech, Rahul thanked people of Himachal Pradesh for fighting for the ideology of the Congress.

"On one side there is anger and hatred, on the other side there is Congress. You will be the winner. The Congress will win all the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal. Congress thank you for fighting for our ideology," he said. (ANI)