Guwahati (Assam). Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addressed a huge party rally in Guwahati as part of his campaign in Assam for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

He said, For the past 13 years, you have a Congress government in Assam. Militancy came down and peace is back in the state. How we could achieve this? It is because the Congress government in Assam went to the people, listened to them, connected entire sections with love, empowered them and peace returned. All the people in Assam are reaping the benefits.
There are two types of leaders. The first type is those leaders who go to the people, mingle with them, listen to their issues and wish to give them more power. This is the way Congress thinks. And on the other side, there are leaders who snatch power from the people.  I am not of that type. I do not want your power but want to give you more strength, instead. It is you, who must take our country forward. You have strength and the potential to do so.

Today, I had an interaction with some people here in Assam. I could learn a lot from them. Nowadays, some leaders come to you and promise you that they would change the state and the world. But the fact is that it is the people who bring in changes, not the leaders. Leaders cannot reform the world; only people can do so. I do read our history. Our great leaders always listened to the people.. They had bowed their head before them. They always stressed for the empowerment of common people. I just want to say one thing; we must give more power to the people. They must have a role in governance and policy making because they know a lot. I sit in Assam and it is not possible for me to know the minute details on what is happening in Assam. But the people here, the women and the youth, know about it. We, therefore, try to give more powers to them.

What has been done in 70 years, BJP claims it can do in it in three months. This is a mockery of the people as what has happened in the last seven decades is because of the people. If India is progressing, that is because of the hard work of our people. If Assam is having peace today, it is because of you. It is your good heart, love and affection made it possible. So you must be strengthened further. If we do so, those leaders will vanish.

What did Congress do in Assam? Earlier BJP-AGP government looted the state. Just within 3 months they robbed the people of Assam, which was never done by anyone else in the past 50 years. There was no peace under their regime; people were under pain.

Congress transformed the state now. More than 1000 kms of roads were built under PMGS. You have a bridge over Brahmaputra now. The proposed economic freight corridor will benefit you too. The youth will have increased employment opportunities.  We connected lakhs of women with banks through Self Help Group scheme. We gave you the biggest employment guarantee scheme in the world – MNREGA – which ensures minimum 100 days of jobs for rural poor.

Mahatma Gandhi taught us that revolution is brought with peace. The BJP had opposed our move for MNREGA and Food Security schemes. They said it is a wastage of money.
Opposition talks about corruption but the most powerful and historical instrument against it in the form of RTI was given by our government. What was done in closed doors by bureaucrats can be known by any common citizen by filing an RTI.

We brought the Tribal bill for the adivasis. We fought with Vedanta at Niyamgiri and gave the lands back to the tribals.  We fought for the farmers’ rights in Batta-Parsaul and enacted the Land Acquisition law. We waived-off the loans of the poor farmers worth Rs 60000 crores. We did all these with love and respect, not with anger. This has been our policy.

We brought 2 central universities, IIIT, NIT, TIGS, RGIPT, North-East Institute of Science and Technology in Assam to enable our youth to have better education and training. We want them to be better equipped to secure jobs. Congress wants to empower women. We want the women to have the same power that men possess. Women are our strength and they develop our country. Congress always believed in inclusive growth.
Yesterday, I was interacting with some farmers in Haryana. One farmer told me that he stays in Gujarat and has been engaged in farming there, for the past 40 years. But now the Gujarat government says that he is an outsider. He now faces the threat of eviction from the Gujarat govt. It is very sad. No one is an outsider. In Maharashtra, the people from UP are outsiders. In UP Maharashtra people are outsiders. In Delhi N-E people are outsiders. This is not right. This is not our policy. For us all are insiders in India.

When people started shouting BJP Murdabad, Rahul Gandhi quipped back.
Please don’t. we must not use the words like Murdabad. We should not be angry. That is the habit of BJP. Now BJP wants to finish Congress. But they do not know that Congress is not a party, but it is an ideology which cannot be removed from the hearts and minds of the people.  It is ideology to love each other, respect all. BJP talks of Hindutva but did not read Gita. The Gita talks of respecting all, working with love and not to be arrogant. The same has been said in Quran, Gurugranth Sahib. This concept is years-old and no one can destroy this. Hindustan is like a Guldasta (bouquet) which has space for all. We must love all, respect all. It is the people who develop the nation.

In the last ten years, about 15 crore people came out of poverty. This is an historic achievement and it happened for the first time in our country. It is due to the good work done by the Centre led by Manmohan Singh Ji and Sonia Ji. Now there is a new class emerging. It is just above the BPL but down the middle class. About 70 crore are coming in this new category. Our next aim is to uplift them and take to the middle class group.

We talk about Super power. Without empowering our women India can never be a super power. It will remain as half super power until then. In the next 5 years we will strengthen our steps to empower more women. We want 50% of the members in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Assemblies are women. We also want to empower the youth and want them at higher places. We have nothing but you, the people, have everything – the strength, the knowledge and the power. Our duty is just give you opportunities, open up conditions and to empower you.

In Assam, we have initiated a new process to select the candidates. We want to give people a voice in candidate selection. We are holding primaries. We have held it now in 15-16 places but we want to take it in all constituencies. With this (primaries), all party workers would be involved in candidate selection and you will feel that it is your candidate. Congress party also needs to be reformed and we are doing it. I feel very glad to be here in Assam. Lots of your people come to Delhi. You have a good reputation there. Once, when I went to a hotel in Delhi, I could see good number of Assam people are employed there. I asked the authorities why there are more of your people there. They told me that the people from North East are very good and they work very nicely.

I feel sad for Nido. Whenever something goes wrong with North east people, I feel very bad. Everyone must feel safe and secure, everywhere in India. All Indians must be loved equally, anywhere. You should feel at home in Bangalore just as you feel in Assam.
I could learn about a self immolation of a youth here. I was just telling our Chief Minister Gagoi Ji, his government must extend maximum help and support to his family. We must love his family and must never be angry with them. We believe in love, not in ager. That is what Assam teaches us.