Firdaus Khan
Bhuj (Gujarat). Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Saturday while addressing a well attended election rally at Bhuj in poll bound Gujarat ahead of the second phase of polling in the state said that Modi is indulging in politics of anger. “Only one person’s voice is being heard in Gujarat and that person indulges in politics of anger.  An angry leader can never understand the dream of others” said the Congress leader.

Rahul Gandhi said, three four days back I was thinking what should I tell the people of Gujarat when I will address them.  Finally I got the answer and I want to share that with you.  I will tell you what Gujarat has given to me. This is a story about my family and Gandhi Ji. I will tell you how my family established a relationship with Gujarat. That was through a great personality – Gandhi Ji. Once, during freedom struggle, Gandhiji came to our house in Allahabad where Jawahar Lal Nehru and Moti Lal Nehru were staying. Jawaharlal Nehru was involved in the freedom struggle.  Motilal Nehru felt that Gandhiji, who had come back from South Africa, had taken away his son.  Nehru was travelling across the country and rarely came home. One day Jawahar Lal ji was arrested and sent to jail. Moti Lal Nehru was under tension.  Motilalji was not able to sleep and he was roaming around in Anand Bhawan, restlessly. One night he went to Ganhi Ji’s room but could not see Gandhiji on his bed. It was the winter season. He switched on the light and surprised to see Gandhi Ji sleeping on the floor in a corner of the room.  Gandhi Ji also woke up. Moti Lal Ji asked him why he was not sleeping on the bed.  Gandhiji said Jawahar Lal is in jail and must be sleeping on the floor, so I too will sleep on the floor. Gandhi Ji was not enacting any drama. He nevert told this to anyone. No one in the world knew about it. That was Gandhi Ji and his ideology. Gandhi Ji’s ideology was Gujarat’s ideology. This is Gujarat's history... your history. This what Gujarat gave to me- a ‘guru’.

Whenever I face any difficulty, I read the books written by Gandhi Ji and I get solutions easily. Every leader, every person should have some principles. Some people say that politics is very difficult. But the fact is that there is no any difficulty. What has he taught us? Whenever you have any difficult question and you are not able to find an answer, just ask yourself whether you are doing any harm to the poor. If you are suppressing their voice then you are wrong otherwise your actions are correct. That is what Congress has been doing. Just examine the policies of the UPA government at the centre - not just the UPA but also the previous Congress governments in the past sixty years. The policy of Bank nationalization helped the poor; green revolution benefitted the farmers; we gave voice to the women and they played a crucial role in the while revolution. White revolution is the gift of women in Gujarat. We have given this country MNREGA – the right for jobs for every poor without any discrimination.

BJP loudly talks of corruption. It was Congress which implemented RTI. Earlier the cases of corruption were not coming out. But now number cases have come out. We showed the courage to implement the said policy because we wanted to give voice to the common man.  Even if I write a letter to the Prime Minister, the people can get information about the same using RTI. That is the power of this policy. In Gujarat, 14000 RTI applications are pending! RTI has no effect in Gujarat while it is more or less successful in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In Gujarat, only one man’s voice is being heard. The propaganda is that the state is developing only because of single individual and the people of Gujarat do nothing. The workers, farmers, youth and women in Gujarat are not contributing towards Gujarat’s development! There is smart marketing going on here. The marketers say that Gujarat is now surging ahead only due to the efforts of one person! They also tell you that Gujarat started progressing only due to this man’s efforts!

The marketers say that Gujarat is shining? The farmers here could not receive the water from Narmada. Their lands were grabbed and sold to big industrialists for higher prices. The fishermen also face lots of hardships.  More than ten lakh youth are jobless here, no electricity and water but they claim that Gujarat is shining! Thousands of people put in their sincere efforts for development of Gujarat but a single person takes the entire credit! A perfect leader is the one who keep his dreams aside and considers others dream as his. That is what Gujarat’s greatest personality – Gandhi Ji taught us. He taught us to listen to the voices of the poor and fight for the rights of the people we represent. You please go to South Africa and ask Mandela Ji who his Guru is. Mandela Ji will undoubtedly admit that his guru is the person who was born in Porbandar in Gujarat and his name is Mahatma Gandhi. American President Obama and Burman leader Aung San Suu Kyi also will say the same.  Political leaders across the world respects Gandhi Ji and this is your gift – the gift of Gujarat.

But here the state government bothers about only a single man’s dream. It never thinks about the dreams of the people of Gujarat.  Every Gujarati pays Rs. 60000 for every Nano car manufactured in but the people get no benefits. Only one person’s voice is being heard in Gujarat that person indulges in politics of anger.  An angry leader can never understand the dream of others. My father was murdered. My grandmother also met with the same fate.  They were killed by the terrorists. But I can firmly tell you that I have no anger now.  That does not mean that I was not angry. Yes, I was furious when my grandmother and father were assassinated. But I gave up my anger. I know that anger makes a man blind. I also was blind but when I kept aside my anger, I started seeing again.

But here, the person who claims that he solely develops Gujarat, is always angry. An angry person cannot run a state. That is what Gandhi Ji believed in.  You have the power and you have a clear ideology – the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi. I also remember what Sardar Patel Ji had said. He had a dream that no one in our country lives in hunger. He told it on several occasions. We are now ready with Food Security Bill to fulfill his dream. But what BJP is doing? It is trying to block this bill too. In Gujarat the assembly functions for only 25 days and BJP wants the same in Parliament too. They fear that if Parliament functions properly, Congress will bring in more pro-poor policies and as a result BJP would lose the next elections! They stalled the Lokpal Bill in the Parliament. Is there Lokayukta in Gujarat? Why there is no Lokayukta here for the past 8 years because one person does not want either Lokpal or Lokayukta. You have to change this state of affairs. You need a government of the Gujarat and by the Gujaratis. You need a government of the women, workers, fishermen and the youth here for taking Gujarat to the path of development. Most importantly, your Chief Minister angrily behaves with you and this is wrong. You have love and affection in you.  You need a government which works with love.