UP Battleground: Rahul Gandhi in Jaunpur slams PM Modi for 'sucking blood' of 99% poor Indians

Comparing the decision to demonetise high-denomination notes to bombings conducted by the allied troops against Germany and Japan during the Second World War, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi lambasted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called the demonetisation drive, a sham.

The Congress vice-president was in Uttar Pradesh's Jaunpur to address a rally. Coming down hard on the Narendra Modi government, Rahul resorted to the usual rhetoric and attacked the BJP for sucking the blood of 99 percent of the population. "Narendra Modi ne 99 percent gareeb imaandar logon se bina pooche unka khoon nikal diya (Narendra Modi sucked the blood out of 99 percent poor people and he did not even ask them)," Rahul told the gathering.

Rahul compared the 8 November decision to scrap Rs 500 and 1,000 notes to the firebombing conducted by allied troops against Germany and Japan, and alleged that the prime minister had "firebombed" the lives of the common man.

The Amethi MP said that the government has ignored the three main concerns of the poor: bijli ka bill maaf, anaaj ke liye daam aur kisan loan maaf (waiving off electricity bill, good price for the harvest and waiving off farmer loans). He criticised the prime minister for not listening to the plight of the farmers distressed by demonetisation, " I told him that he should waive off the loans of poor farmers but did not get any answer," referring to his recent meeting with Modi.

Rahul added that the top 50 families of India travels with the prime minister on his foreign tours, while, he mocks the downtrodden and the working class sections of the society. Suggesting that not all black money is in cash, and not all cash is not black money, he called the rich thieves, and said they were smart enough to invest their money in real estate, land, gold and foreign accounts. Rahul questioned the prime minister for targeting only six percent of the total black money which is in the form of cash, while the rest of it is locked in gold, real estate and foreign bank accounts. He alleged that the government took the decision for the benefit of the "50 families", who have taken loans worth Rs 1 lakh crore rupees from Public Sector Banks.

Rahul criticised the Modi government for changing its goal regarding demonetisation, from fighting corruption to cashless economy. However, the Congress vice-president did add that the Congress is not against a cash less economy and would support any initiative against corruption that would be taken by the Modi government.

At the rally in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi stopped people from hurling invective against Modi, saying he is the Prime Minister and "we must not say 'murdabad' (Down with) for anyone". As Rahul began his speech at the public rally, some people from among the crowd shouted slogans against Modi.

Rahul asked them not to do that. "We have differences of opinion with Modi and the BJP. Do not use the word 'murdabad'... Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister. Political fight is there. "That is for the RSS people to say, not for us."

With inputs from agencies