Congress leader and the chief of Indian Overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda, in a conversation with The Quint’s editorial director Sanjay Pugalia spoke about a range of issues from the state of the Indian economy, PM Modi’s failed projects as the chief minister of Gujarat to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Attacking Modi, Pitroda said that in the past five years, a narrative has been propagated, which says there’s no alternative to Modi in the country. He called it untrue.
“PM Modi has done nothing in the past five years, he only lied. The GIFT (Gujarat International Financial Tech) project of Gujarat is the biggest proof of that,” said Pitroda.
He said that all the tall claims made regarding GIFT city turned out to be shallow.
Attacking the Modi government, Pitroda further said that while Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, MoUs worth crores were signed for GIFT but nothing happened. He questioned why haven’t the people been made aware of the failure of the projects.
Pitroda also alleged that the many farmers’ lands were taken by the government for the project but merely two buildings were constructed there.
‘The BJP Spreads Lies’
Pitroda alleged that the BJP uses public money for publicity, which is ethically and morally incorrect. He further said that the money belongs to the poor of the country. Pitroda said that the party needs to analyse if it’s promoting a scheme or promoting itself in the process.
He calimed that the Congress government, too, could have spent on publicity, but the party finds it inappropriate to use public money for party’s gains.
‘Everybody Understands NYAY’
“The farmers are in crisis. PM Modi promised to double the income of farmers, but that did not happen. The farmers say that Modi has looted them. Small scale traders, too are suffering. Wherever you go, people say that they have suffered due to demonetisation and GST. If you talk about employment, the Modi government had promised to give two crore jobs every year. Where are those jobs, the 10 crore jobs that were promised in five years,” Pitroda asked.
According to Pitroda, core governance, employment opportunities, independence of the institutions and the country of people’s choice needs to be given to them.
Commenting on Rahul Gandhi’s open challenge to the PM Modi to have a debate with him, Piroda said that if Modi doesn’t want to debate with Gandhi, Pitroda is open for a debate in Gujrati as well.
Calling Modi’s comments on Rajiv Gandhi condemnable, Piroda said that Modi had only propagated lies in the past five years and expressed confidence that the Congress will form the government at the centre.
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