Congress PM would've controlled Manipur violence by fourth day: Rahul Gandhi

Thats why the PM doesnt go there and order the Army to stop the tamasha, he claimed.He alleged that the BJP-ruled government in Assam has been threatening people and trying to suppress their voice, but they have shown huge support to the Congress during the Nyay Yatra.Just 1-2 km away from here, 20-25 BJP leaders and workers had come in front of our bus with their party flags.

If there was a prime minister of the Congress, the violence in Manipur would have been controlled by the fourth day, party leader Rahul Gandhi claimed on Sunday.

Addressing a rally as part of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Assam's Nagaon district, he claimed that even PM Narendra Modi can control the ethnic violence in the Northeastern state, which began in May last year, within three days with the help of the Army, but the BJP doesn't want to do it.

''Manipur has been burning for several months, but our prime minister hasn't gone there till date. Had it been a Congress PM, he would have gone there in three days and the fire there would have been doused on the fourth day,'' Gandhi said.

''If the prime minister gives an order to the Army, in three days they can stop it. But, the BJP doesn't want to douse the fire. That's why the PM doesn't go there and order the Army to stop the 'tamasha','' he claimed.

He alleged that the BJP-ruled government in Assam has been threatening people and trying to suppress their voice, but they have shown huge support to the Congress during the Nyay Yatra.

''Just 1-2 km away from here, 20-25 BJP leaders and workers had come in front of our bus with their party flags. When I got down from the bus, they fled. What were they thinking? That Congress is afraid of RSS-BJP workers? What dream are they seeing? They can tear as many posters and banners as they want, it makes no difference. It is a fight of ideology, we are not afraid of Modi or the CM (of Assam),'' he said.

''Leaders come and go, but those with hearts filled with arrogance and hatred vanish soon,'' he added.

In an apparent swipe at Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Gandhi began his speech by questioning the crowd, ''Who is the most corrupt chief minister in Hindustan?'' He said that he asks the same question wherever he goes and gets the same reply, though he did not repeat the name shouted back to him by the crowd.

Gandhi said that the BJP is answerable to the people for the problems they are facing.

''The BJP should tell the youth of Assam why they are not getting jobs even after completing their studies by spending lakhs of rupees. Farmers say they put their blood and sweat in their fields and yet do not get the right price for their produce,'' he claimed.

Gandhi said that he also met some tea garden workers and they told him that they were not getting Rs 350 as daily wage even though BJP had promised it in their election manifesto.

''Before them, I met four youths who told me that they were accepted into the Army just before the COVID pandemic, and were asked by the government to wait for the situation to normalise before they could join. But after waiting for three years, they were told there was no job for them,'' he claimed.

Gandhi said that the issues of price rise and unemployment, which matter most to the people, do not figure in television discussions.

''Media will tell you about Bollywood, Aishwarya Rai, cricket, but not the issues creating problems for you. BJP leaders have complete control over the media and what comes out in the media. That's why we decided to walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir first, to listen to your issues,'' he said.

He said the Congress works to unite people, whereas the BJP tries to ''spread hatred, make people fight on the basis of religion, caste, language''.

''We open our 'mohabbat ki dukan' in their 'nafrat ka bazaar'. We started the white revolution, green revolution, computerisation, airports and railways. BJP only spreads hatred,'' he asserted.

Gandhi also alleged that the country was being run by a person for his ''two-three millionaire friends''.