Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also said he sought to establish an emotional connect with the people of poll-bound Tamil Nadu. Hitting out at Modi, he said the Prime Minister was "delusional" and thought he could "remote control" Tamil Nadu through the Chief Minister. But Rahul said the people will "remove the battery and throw away." Palaniswami was not standing up to Modi because he was 'corrupt' and 'not honest,' Gandhi alleged. "The only one reason Narendra Modi can't frighten me, is I am not corrupt. And because I am not corrupt I can stand up against him and tell him the truth," he said and claimed he was attacked consistently by the PM for this reason.
The Congress leader also said he wanted to have a relationship with them marked only by respect and affection.
Launching his three-day Tamil Nadu tour ahead of the April 6 assembly elections, at a well-attended public rally at Nanguneri in Tirunelveli on Saturday, Rahul was all praise for the love and affection of the Tamil people. "The only relationship I want to have with the people of Tamil Nadu is one of respect and affection because I understand that is the only relationship that is possible. I understand the graciousness and the large heartedness of the Tamil people and that is the relationship we must share," he added.
"As somebody who does not come from Tamil Nadu, I noticed something immediately. I might meet the poorest person, the weakest person, the person in maximum distress but they never lose their dignity. They never lose their self-respect. Their situation might be terrible but they maintain their self-respect and dignity, which I admire," he said, adding, Tamil Nadu, with its small and medium businesses, is going to show India the future direction.
Rahul attacked Modi, BJP and the RSS on a number of issues ranging from demonetisation and GST to Sino-India standoff. Rahul said Democracy was 'dead' in the country, and blamed the RSS. Misuse of sedition laws, threatening and killing of people were the symptoms of the problem, he alleged. There was also a "full-scale assault" on secularism. Such issues could be addressed only with "mass action" involving people. It was happening outside Delhi, he said, referring to the farmers' agitation against the new Central farm laws.
Later, interacting with salt pan workers, he recalled his party's poll-time promise of providing Rs 72,000 under the NYAY scheme and assured them that it would be implemented if the Congress was voted to power. He said it was strange that people who consume salt hardly realise how it is made or the difficulties of salt pan workers. "People don't even realise there is salt in the vaccine shots they get as you have mentioned..." he added.
(With inputs from PTI)