Virtually launching her party's election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly polls were barely five months away, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday accused prime minister Narendra Modi of demeaning the farmers and selling the precious national assets to his billionaire friends for peanuts.
Addressing a public meeting in Modi's Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, Priyanka also charged the prime minister with 'shielding' Ajay Mishra, union minister of state for home, whose son Ashish Mishra was arrested on charges of running over four farmers with his SUV at Lakhimpur Kheri last week.
"The prime minister was in Lucknow to attend a function but he did not have time to visit Lakhimpur Kheri, barely a two hour drive from there....he calls the protesting farmers terrorists.....his party's CM in UP calls them arsonists," the Congress leader said at the rally, which was held at Jagatpur in the district.
"Have you ever seen the police sending an invitation to a criminal to come for questioning? It does not happen in any country in the world but it is happening here," she said.
Priyanka said that her party would continue to demand the resignation of the MoS Ajay Mishra. "We are not afraid of anyone...you (govt) can put us in jail but we will keep on fighting until the minister resigns.....our party has fought for the freedom of the country...no one can silence us," she added.
The Congress leader also raked up the sale of Air India and said that the national assets were being sold for peanuts to the billionaire friends of Modi.
"Do you (people) know how much the PM spent in buying two aircrafts for himself?....16 thousand crores....and he has sold Air India to his billionaire friend for 18 thousand crore...airports, PSUs are also being sold to his billionaire friends," she said.
She also referred to the rising fuel and LPG prices and exhorted the people to oust the BJP government. "Look within yourself (people) and ask a question. Has there been any progress in the past seven years....this country is being destroyed," Priyanka said.
Priyanka also raked up the killings of 13 tribals in Sonebhadra district of the state a few years back and the rape and subsequent killing of a Dalit girl in Hathras and said that no one was safe in the country. "Only two categories of people are safe here...those from the ruling party and the billionaire friends of the PM," she added.
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