Firdaus Khan
Palanpur (Gujarat). Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said while addressing a well attended Congress rally at Palanpur in poll bound Gujarat that only one voice is being heard in the state. He also wondered how Gujarat can shine without electricity, water and jobs.

Rahul Gandhi said, three four days back I was thinking what should I tell the people of Gujarat when I will address them.  After a brief thought I got the answer and I want to share that with you.  I will tell you what Gujarat has given to the youth of our country. When I was a child my father and my grandmother used to discuss about various subjects including politics. They also used to talk about the freedom struggle. One day the topic was Gandhi Ji. I had shared this story in my earlier speeches too.
During the freedom struggle, Gandhiji once came to our house in Allahabad where Jawahar Lal Nehru and Moti Lal Nehru were staying. Motilal Nehru was in tension as Nehru ji  was jailed. He was not able to sleep and he was roaming around in Anand Bhawan, restlessly. One night he went to Gandhi Ji’s room but could not see Gandhiji on his bed. He switched on the light and surprised to see that Gandhi Ji was sleeping on the floor.  Moti Lal Ji asked him why he was not sleeping on the bed in the punishing winter.  Gandhiji said Jawahar Lal is in jail and is sleeping on the floor, so he too will sleep on the floor. This is Gujarat's history... your history.

I am a young politician. I do not have my father now. Whenever I face any difficulty I read books on Gandhi Ji and I get solutions.  The greatest political guru in our country is Gandhi Ji and Gujarat only gave him to us. Some people say that politics is so complicated and full of problems. This is not true.  If you follow certain principles like Gandhi Ji, nothing is difficult in politics.  One should listen to the voice of the people, without any bias and include those voices in the process of development.  This is not my concept. This is what Gandhi Ji taught us. This is your idea, Gujarat’s idea. This is what Gujarat gifted to the entire country.

If you are in politics it is your responsibility to go to the people and hear their problems. In Gujarat the voice of the poor and weaker sections are not heard; only one voice is heard here. He thinks that he is solely responsible for the entire development of Gujarat. It is true, that Rajiv Ji gave us mobiles. But the important fact was it gave you the voice. It was Sam Pitroda who helped Rajiv Ji for that revolutionary policy and he was a Gujarati. He was not a big industrialist but was a small businessman. You give your blood and sweat and put in your maximum efforts for development. But a single person claims the entire credit for progress in the state. He thinks that he is the epitome of knowledge and that he solely takes Gujarat towards development. There is no sufficient water available for the farmers, no adequate electricity, lakhs of youth are jobless but some people say that Gujarat is shining!  A leader should understand the dreams of aam aadmi, should realize their problems and should help them.  A leader should forget about own dreams. But that is not happening in Gujarat.