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“We will win election and India will change”. This was the last sentence of a stirring speech made by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday at a big rally here. And top Congress leaders took no time in declaring that the rally may be a turnaround in the dwindling fortunes of Congress party ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
Gandhi touched two important points as he unveiled a new vision for the next five years if Congress comes back to power after the Lok Sabha elections. Gandhi said Congress will bring a new bill on the right to health after the elections. “We will provide all those health facilities to the poor people also which are presently being enjoyed by the rich,” he said.
Stating that there are 70 crore people who are living above below poverty line (BPL) but are well below the category of middle class in India, he said Congress will try to uplift all of them to the status of middle class in the next 5 years by bringing changes in education system and providing training in jobs to them. “You will see that all these 70 crore people will become middle class,” said Gandhi.
Referring to “big issue” of corruption, he said BJP was merely doing a lip service on the issue. “We brought all those bills which are against corruption. Be it lokpal or RTI. If we see Gujarat, we all know it was due to the intervention of the court that a lokayukta bill was enacted. But this also we know that except one person (CM), all other people are under its ambit,” said Gandhi.
Gandhi also lamented that due to the opposition of BJP, five bills against corruption could not be passed in the Parliament. But he said the UPA government will enact these bills and also the women reservation bill through ordinances. “At a time when we (Congress) are empowering women and youth of the country, BJP is only doing politics on blood-letting,” he said.
On the June deluge in Uttarakhand, Gandhi said he has asked Chief Minister Harish Rawat to work 20 hours a day so that all the damaged infrastructure facilities are restored before the commencement of the Chardham yatra in May.
