Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while addressing the party workers in Ahmedabad, launched a sharp attack on Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its defeat from the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh where Ayodhya is located.
“To clean up the area in Ayodhya to construct the Ram Temple, a lot of land was taken from the people and till date the Narendra Modi government has not compensated them,” he said. The leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha further stated that an international airport was built in Ayodhya on the land of farmers and even they were not compensated properly.
Not a single person of Ayodhya was present in the Ram Temple inauguration which enraged the people, Gandhi said, adding that these were some of the reasons why NDA lost in Ayodhya.
Gandhi also expressed confidence that the Congress party will defeat the BJP in Gujarat in the next election the same way it did in Ayodhya.
“They (BJP) have challenged us by threatening us and damaging our office. Let me tell you that we are together going to break their government like they damaged our office. Take it in writing that Congress will contest in Gujarat and defeat Narendra Modi and BJP in Gujarat like we did in Ayodhya,” Gandhi said.
Congress will win Gujarat, and from the state it will make a new start, he said.
He was referring to a clash that broke out between members of both Congress and BJP outside the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, Congress’s state headquarters in Paldi area of Ahmedabad on July 2 after BJP’s youth wing members came there to protest against Gandhi’s remarks on Hindus.
As per the police, both sides engaged in stone-pelting, in which five policemen, including an Assistant Commissioner of Police, were injured.
Gandhi is also expected to meet the family members of those who lost their lives in various tragedies in Gujarat in the recent past, including the Rajkot game zone fire, the boat capsize incident in Vadodara and Morbi bridge collapse.