|
Ghazipur
(UP),
Mar
5:
Describing
Uttar
Pradesh
as
the
land
of
her
forefathers,
Congress
general
secretary
Priyanka
Gandhi
on
Saturday
vowed
not
to
leave
the
state
regardless
of
the
ongoing
assembly
elections
results.
Accusing
her
party
rivals
in
general
of
practising
politics
of
caste
and
religion
and
the
BJP
in
particular
of
pursuing
“hollow
nationalism”,
she
said
she
would
stay
put
in
the
state
and
continue
to
fight
for
its
people
till
the
emergence
of
a
true
and
correct
change
in
its
politics.
The
Congress
leader
made
the
remarks
while
addressing
an
election
rally
here
in
Ghazipur
which
goes
to
the
polls
on
March
7
in
the
last
phase
of
the
seven-phase
UP
assembly
elections.
“You
(public)
are
being
misled
through
the
issue
of
caste
and
religion.
You
will
face
the
maximum
loss
with
the
political
leaders
incurring
hardly
losing
anything.
They
just
want
to
come
back
to
power
by
keeping
the
people
poor,”
she
said.
“This
is
the
land
of
my
forefathers
and
their
blood
has
nurtured
its
soil.
Unless
true
and
correct
politics
emerges
in
the
state,
I
will
continue
to
fight.
I
have
decided
that
whatever
is
the
result,
I
am
not
going
to
leave
you.
I
will
fight
along
with
you,
for
you,”
she
added.
While
taking
the
pledge
against
leaving
UP
regardless
of
the
poll
results,
Priyanka
Gandhi
also
accused
some
former
Congress
leaders
who
later
switched
over
to
other
parties,
including
the
BJP,
of
dissuading
her
from
staying
in
the
state
and
working
for
it.
“Three
years
ago
when
I
came
to
UP
as
the
in-charge
of
UP,
some
senior
leaders
of
the
party,
who
have
now
left
the
party,
came
to
me
and
told
me
that
I
should
leave
UP
as
I
will
get
nothing
here.
they
told
me
that
there
is
only
a
struggle
here.
The
Congress
does
not
even
exist
here.
You
speak
to
the
party
leadership
and
tell
them
to
send
you
somewhere
else,”
Priyanka
Gandhi
told
the
election
rally.
“I
subsequently
spoke
to
my
brother
Rahul
Gandhi,
the
then
Congress
president.
And,
he
said,
Priyanka
go
to
Uttar
Pradesh
and
work
(‘sangharsh
karo’)
for
it.
You
have
to
remember
that
wherever
there
is
sadness
among
people,
atrocities
are
being
committed
on
them,
you
have
to
go
there
and
fight
for
the
people,”
she
said.
Gandhi
also
urged
voters
to
vote
for
her
party
candidate
in
the
ongoing
state
assembly
elections.
Sharpening
her
attack
on
the
BJP,
she
said,
“Their
policy
is
that
they
will
keep
you
poor.
They
brought
demonetisation
and
GST
and
in
the
name
of
nationalism
they
made
you
stand
in
queues,”
she
said.
“Your
business
got
destroyed
but
the
black
money
did
not
come.
In
the
suddenly-imposed
lockdown,
the
big
industrialists
kept
flourishing
but
everything
of
yours
got
destroyed.
All
the
policies
which
were
made
for
farmers
only
harmed
them,”
she
alleged.
Gandhi
also
attacked
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi,
accusing
him
of
always
being
on
tours
to
various
countries
of
the
world
but
having
no
time
for
agitating
farmers.
“The
nationalist
Prime
Minister
travelled
the
world
but
did
not
speak
with
farmers.
What
type
of
nationalism
is
this
that
you
don’t
even
listen
to
the
grievances
of
farmers?
What
type
of
nationalism
is
this
that
the
son
of
your
minister
crushed
farmers
and
the
minister
was
seen
sharing
the
stage
with
you?
What
type
of
nationalism
is
this
that
half
of
the
population
has
been
given
a
sac
of
ration
and
a
gas
cylinder
but
there
have
been
no
schemes
to
educate
and
empower
them?”
she
asked.
“What
type
of
nationalism
is
this
that
you
have
cheated
sons
of
farmers,
posted
at
the
country’s
border?
This
is
a
hollow
nationalism.
This
is
a
nationalism
practised
from
the
political
dais.
All
the
organisations
and
institutions
which
the
Congress
had
made
to
provide
jobs
(to
the
people)
have
been
sold
to
their
friends,”
she
alleged.
“A
government
which
cannot
give
jobs
to
youths
cannot
call
itself
as
nationalist,”
she
asserted.
Recalling
the
days
of
her
father
(former
Prime
Minister
Rajiv
Gandhi),
the
Congress
general
secretary
said,
“When
my
father
was
the
Prime
Minister,
people
used
to
question
him
and
seek
redressal
of
their
grievances.
The
BJP
has
reversed
the
democracy,
and
the
Prime
Minister
is
seen
only
on
election
daises.”
Accusing
the
BJP
of
spreading
a
narrative
that
people
are
inclined
to
vote
for
the
BJP
because
they
had
consumed
“Modi’s
salt”,
she
said
this
falsehood
was
cut
short
on
being
questioned
by
the
Congress.
“We
intervened
and
then
he
changed
his
statement
but
the
mentality
remains
the
same,”
she
said.
Without
naming
him,
Gandhi
also
accused
Prime
Minister
Modi
of
entertaining
the
notion
that
he
is
irreplaceable.
“The
leader
today
thinks
there
is
no
one
in
the
public
to
uproot
him
and
hence
he
is
misleading
people.
Change
this
notion.
The
leaders
are
not
gods.
They
are
just
human
beings.
And
if
a
human
being
is
given
uncontrolled
power,
he
thinks
that
he
has
no
responsibility
and
he
becomes
uncontrolled,”
she
said.
She
sought
to
remind
people
that
the
power
that
the
government
wield
is
given
to
it
by
the
people
on
loan.
“He
forgets
that
this
power
belongs
to
you
which
you
have
given
on
loan.
They
will
use
your
sentiments
to
get
to
power.
Take
the
power
back
from
them
and
change
the
future
of
Uttar
Pradesh.
Teach
these
parties
a
lesson
by
exercising
the
power
of
your
vote,”
she
said.
PTI
Story first published: Saturday, March 5, 2022, 23:29 [IST]