BJP, RSS want one ideology, culture to prevail in India, Cong to promote diversity: Rahul

Imphal, Feb 21 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that the vision and ideology of the BJP and the RSS is to promote one idea, one culture and one language maintaining these are superior to all other ideas, all other languages and all other cultures.

Gandhi referring to his recent Lok Sabha speech on "Union of states" said the Congress always wanted to protect and develop the diverse culture of people of all the states and Union Territories of India.

He said that the BJP and the RSS did not like the reference of "Union of states" because they have a different vision of the country.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP and RSS leaders are coming to Manipur not with respect to the people of the state, not with understanding, they come with a sense of superiority. PM comes to Manipur with the idea that he has a superior vision, superior language and he has the right to define about India.

"I come Manipur with humility; because I understand that you (people) have a lot to give. I come here to learn a lot from you because there is a diverse culture, languages and traditions here. PM will come to Manipur on Tuesday with an air of superiority to tell you what he thinks and not to learn from you," the Congress leader said.

While addressing his first election rally in poll bound Manipur at Hapta Kangjeibung in Imphal, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress believed in an India where every state had equal rights and the right to have its own language, culture and history.

Modi earlier promised to give two crore jobs in a year, deposit Rs 15 lakhs in the bank account of every Indian and he would change the destiny of the farmers, Gandhi said.

"But now he is not talking about those commitments ...he is not talking about three black farm laws. He is not talking now about the severely bad effect of 'Notebandi' (demonetisation). He is not talking about the flawed GST.

"The faulty GST was created to help two to three millionaires and to destroy the small and medium industries and enterprises. India is now witnessing the highest number of unemployed in 40 years."

Gandhi referring to the Rs 11,000 crore National Palm oil cultivation mission of the government, said that this cultivation would not help the farmers of Manipur, it would destroy the economy of Manipur.

"Companies like Patanjali and large business organisations would be benefited and make profit from this cultivation. We are not interested to help Baba Ramdev and punish Manipuri people. We are always keen to protect the interest of Manipur and to make the state self-sufficient in rice production," he observed.

Criticising the BJP government for not helping women, the Congress leader said that his party led government in Manipur helped a lot in the 'Ima Keithal' and more such 'Ima Keithal' would be set up in the future to empower the women in the state.

The century old and world's largest all-women run market 'Ima Keithal' or the 'Mother's Market', located in Manipur capital Imphal and other smaller all-women markets functioning in different parts of the northeastern state boost the Manipur economy to a large extent and are a great source of livelihood of thousands of women.

The all women market, which has a history of over 500 years, has around 3,615 licensed female vendors registered with the Imphal Municipal Corporation.

Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "failure to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic", Gandhi said that Modi is the first Prime Minister in the world who campaigned for "Thali Bajao to vanish coronavirus.... when his Thali Bajao scheme failed he asked the people to switch on the mobile phone light to eradicate the virus".

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also addressed an election rally in Manipur virtually from Delhi on February 15 while party leaders Jairam Ramesh and Bhakta Charan Das are spearheading the party's election campaign in the northeastern state.

The elections to the 60-seat Manipur assembly would be held in two phases on February 28 and March 5.

The counting of votes would take place on March 10.