MP polls: Priyanka Gandhi urges people to avoid voting on religious lines

Dewas (MP), Nov 8 (PTI) Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday targeted the ruling BJP saying the issue of religion is raked up during the elections, and urged people to avoid giving their votes on religious lines.

She was addressing a public meeting in favour of Congress candidate Deepak Joshi in Khategaon of Dewas district.

"People say that Madhya Pradesh is a laboratory of RSS…Whenever elections come, the issue of religion is raked up...Everybody's feelings are associated with religion irrespective of one's faiths. Will you not open your eyes when religion is being used and votes are sought?" she asked the attendees.

"The biggest political objective is that you (people) should be served, there should be progress, the country should be strong," she said.

But people are being made to fight among themselves on religious lines for the sake of politics, Gandhi Vadra alleged.

Instead of voting on religious lines, people should seek the account of work from the leaders, she added.

"The government brought the Agnipath scheme, which provides temporary jobs in the army, for the sons of farmers who serve the country. But they (those in power) make arrangements for their own sons to study in foreign countries, also arrange costly vehicles and palaces for them," she said.

The Congress governments in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have fulfilled various promises made to farmers, women and youth, she said.

"But the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, on the contrary, implemented schemes like Ladli Behna when elections came near. Where was the government in the last 18 years?" Gandhi Vadra asked.

She also targeted the BJP government at the Centre and Madhya Pradesh, accusing it of failing to rein in inflation.

"Why are the government posts lying vacant in Madhya Pradesh despite the BJP being in power for the last 18 years?" she asked.

Accusing the BJP government in MP of being involved in irregularities in the recruitment exams and indulging in corruption, Gandhi Vadra said she was tired of reading the long list of such scams.

"No state in the country witnessed such large-scale recruitment scams," she said.

Youngsters want government jobs because this kind of employment provides security and a future, unlike the private sector jobs. But all the government companies, which used to give jobs, have been sold (by the government). Airports were given to Adani, she claimed, referring to industrialist Gautam Adani.

"Will Adani be able to give you government jobs or secure a pension?" she asked.

"Government employees, whose pension money is cut every month from their salaries, don't know where this amount is being invested. That is why they want the old pension scheme," the Congress leader said.

She hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saying that Congress did not do anything in 70 years.

"If that is so, then who built the companies which he is selling to his friends?" she asked.

MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has made 22,000 announcements, of which not even 22 were fulfilled, Gandhi Vadra alleged.

Farmers are facing problems due to inflation, she alleged and blamed the government policies for the cultivators.

Talking about caste census, she said BJP leaders make promises for the Other Backward Classes (OBC), but remain silent when asked about carrying out their census.

Conducting a caste census is one of main promises of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.

The issue of women's reservation is talked about, but women will not be able to get its benefits for the next 10 years, she said, referring to the newly enacted legislation which reserves seats for them in legislatures.

"As long as you promote this type of politics which involves religion and caste, only the children of politicians will prosper," she said.

According to her, farmers under the Modi government are earning only Rs 27 per day while onion is being sold at Rs 100 per kg.

"While farmers are earning Rs 27 everyday, Adani ji is earning Rs 1,600 crore per day," she said.

PM Modi is spending Rs 20,000 crore on the beautification of some roads and construction of new Parliament building, but he doesn't have money for the old pension scheme (OPS) and for waiving loan of farmers, she alleged.

"Farmers kept sitting in protest against the black laws, but Modi didn't pay heed to it for one year," she said.

Gandhi Vadra also held a road show in Indore-1 assembly seat, where BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya is contesting against the sitting Congress MLA Sanjay Shukla. PTI