Rahul Gandhi resolves to protect constitution, scrap Agniveer scheme

LUCKNOW: INDIA bloc partners—Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav—launched a tirade on PM Narendra Modi Modi-led

BJP over the issues related to alleged threat to Indian constitution, reservation to poor, and Agniveer Scheme, in Jhansi on Tuesday.

Addressing the gathering at a joint rally to seek support for Congress candidate Pradeep Jain, Akhilesh Yadav focused on the ‘dwindling’ fortunes of the BJP while Rahul Gandhi continued his narrative to scrap Agniveer scheme and ‘to safeguard Constitution’ from saffron brigade.

Rahul Gandhi reiterated that the upcoming election was crucial for safeguarding the Constitution. He asserted that without the Constitution, the poor people of India ‘won’t belong anywhere.’ “The day this (showing a miniature of Constitution) is gone, your land rights, reservation, public sector everything will be gone. I.N.D.I.A bloc, Akhilesh Yadav, Khargeji and I are protecting this Constitution…,” Gandhi claimed.

Assuring the gathering of their joint effort to give a better dispensation, Rahul Gandhi said: “There will be a revolutionary work, no government in the world has ever done it. They (BJP) are making 22 billionaires, we are going to make crores of millionaires. A woman’s name will be selected from each family and Rs one lakh per year will be transferred in bank accounts of crores of woman.”

The Congress leader promised that the INDIA bloc would scrap the military recruitment scheme, introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, if voted to power.

Agniveer scheme- which makes one of the prominent features of the opposition narrative, Rahul Gandhi promises to throw the scheme in the dustbin.

Gandhi asserted that the country did not need two kind of martyrs. “One that gets pension, the other that does not. One whose families are taken care of, the other whose families are not.” He linked the military recruitment scheme to Adani saying that India’s armed forced did not want the Agniveer scheme and that the PM had introduced the programme “to benefit Adani.”

Claiming that the graph of BJP was coming down after four phases of voting, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said that people were preparing for the farewell of the ruling party from the country. “Four phases of elections are over and BJP’s graph is falling. The people of Jhansi are preparing for BJP’s ‘vidai ki jhanki’ (farewell). Those, who were talking about doubling farmers’ incomes, have given the farmers nothing but sufferings. Under their govt farmers are in trouble,” he said.

All praise for the Congress and reflecting on its past initiatives, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said: “Whenever I come to Jhansi, I remember the Sainik School.

When the Congress government was in power at centre and an SP government in UP, then Rahul ji said that we needed a Sainik School for Amethi. Then I said that one Sainik School will not be sufficient in Uttar Pradesh, you will have to provide more. After this, Congress gave three military schools to Uttar Pradesh”.

The joint Congress-SP rally held on Tuesday aimed at galvanising support for Pradeep Jain, the one fielded by Congress. He had previously won Jhansi Lok Sabha seat in 2009. Jain’s candidature is seen as pivotal in countering the incumbent BJP’s influence in the region. The electoral contest in Jhansi has intensified with the entry of new candidates, notably, Ravi Prakash Kushwaha from the BSP, making it a triangular contest.