Rahul Gandhi dares Modi to reveal to people who released Masood Azhar from prison

AICC president Rahul Gandhi dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tell the nation that it was the BJP government that released Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar in1999.

Even as the saffron party appears to have received a shot in the arm post the Pulwama attack and Balakot airstrike, the Congress party launched a scathing attack on the Modi government, reminding the prime minister that his party had released Azhar from prison in exchange of passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999.

“In Pulwama, CRPF jawans were martyred. My question to the prime minister is, who killed the CRPF men? What is the name of the JeM chief? Who released Masood Azhar from the Indian jail to Pakistan? Did the BJP government not release Azhar? Have you forgotten that it was your government which took Masood Azhar to Kandahar and released him? Why don't you admit it? Go to the internet and search for 'Kandahar', and you can spot Ajit Doval, the national security advisor with Masood Azhar. Unlike the BJP, the Congress does not bend before the terrorists,” charged Rahul Gandhi, while addressing 'Parivarthana rally' in Haveri district of Karnataka on Saturday.

Slamming Modi's foreign policy, Rahul Gandhi said the prime minister was on a swing with the Chinese president in Gujarat when the Chinese army was entering Doklam. "Modi could do little to stop this infiltration. He was speaking to China without any agenda," the Congress chief claimed.

Rahul Gandhi announced that if voted to power, his party would introduce the minimum income guarantee scheme and promised to pass the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament.

"Our first task would be to pass the Women's Reservation Bill. The Parliament and assemblies need women representatives. Their participation is very important," said Rahul Gandhi, who mocked the Kisan Samman (income support) scheme for farmers launched by the Centre recently.

“Modi accused the Karnataka government of dangling a lollipop to farmers with the loan waiver of Rs 11,000 crore. Modi has been fooling the farmers for the last five years. During the Karnataka elections, we had promised a farm loan waiver and we delivered. In Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, we waived farm loans within two days. After we announced the scheme in Chhattisgarh, Modi panicked and announced the Kisan Samman scheme.

"When Piyush Goyal announced it in the Parliament, BJP MPs were applauding and Kharge ji (Mallikarjun Kharge) was laughing. I asked him why he was laughing. He told me Modi had just announced a daily allowance of Rs 3 to the poor. The Congress will not insult farmers. We will give them a decent minimum income," said Rahul Gandhi and hailed NREGA, Land Acquisition Act, White Revolution (milk), Green Revolution (agriculture) and Telecom revolutions during the UPA rule as "historical".

The Congress chief further said PM Modi wants to create two Indias.

“Modi wants to create two Indias. One that belongs to Ambani and Mehul Choksi, and those who fly private jets and people who escape with Rs 30,000 crore after informing Arun Jaitley. The other India is of the poor, where there is injustice and unemployment. If Anil Ambani's children fall sick, they get treated abroad. In the other India, if a poor man's children fall sick, they get no treatment unless lakhs of rupees are spent. The Congress believes in one India for all and works to ensure that there are no two Indias. If Modi helps the thieves, we will help the poor," said Rahul Gandhi and slammed Modi over the Rafale deal, alleging he had put Rs 30,000 crore into Anil Ambani's pocket.

"The UPA government gave the Rafale contract to HAL, which had the experience of making aircraft like Mirage, Sukhoi, MiG and Jaguar. But Anil Ambani, who has never made an aircraft, bagged the Rafale contract. In the defence minister's file, it is clearly noted down that there was a parallel negotiation by the PMO," alleged Rahul Gandhi.