Panaji: Prime Minister Narendra Modi loves distracting attention from key issues, which is why he raked up the history of Goa to distract people from problems related to unemployment, environment degradation in the state, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday.
Addressing a press conference in Margao town in South Goa, Rahul Gandhi also said that Modi was not aware of history post World War II, blaming the Prime Minister’s ignorance for his controversial comments related to Goa’s freedom struggle.
“I said that Modi loves distraction. Goa’s youth needs employment. Goa needs to rejuvenate the tourism industry. Goa wants to talk about the future. Narendra Modi knows that his government has done nothing in the last five years, so he wants to distract,” Gandhi said.
The Congress leader’s comment came a day after Modi, addressing an election rally in North Goa, blamed the Congress party and then Prime Minister late Jawaharlal Nehru for delaying the liberation of Goa from Portuguese rule for over a decade and a half.
“The PM also has a role. He cannot come to you today and say to you ‘I gave jobs’, ‘I gave you employment’, ‘I fixed your problems’, ‘I stole your last government’. He can’t say that to you. So, he has to distract you. His role is to distract. His role is to take you away from your issues and to distract you,” Gandhi said.
“Now the fact of the matter is that freedom fighters have commented on this issue. This is an issue that has come up before. Academics have commented on this issue before. The sad fact is that the PM doesn’t quite understand the history of those times. He doesn’t understand what was going on post WWII,” Gandhi added.
The Congress leader also said that Modi had failed to live up to the promises he had made in the run up to the 2014 general elections.
“At the time of the 2014 elections, the Prime Minister said he would give two crore jobs. He said that 15 lakh would come to your accounts. Why doesn’t he say that today? Why doesn’t he say in his speeches that he is going to give jobs?. Why doesn’t he say he is going to double the farmers income? Why isn’t he saying that he is going to rid the country of corruption? Why isn’t he talking about demonetisation? Because he is a total fail(ure),” Rahul Gandhi said.
IANS