Bharat Bandh: PM Modi Keeps Mum on Burning Issues

Bharat Bandh: PM Modi Keeps Mum on Burning Issues

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that hatred was being spread and the country was being divided under the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Addressing a protest rally at Ramlila Maidan during the Bharat Bandh organised by the Congress, Gandhi also questioned the “silence” of PM Modi on fuel prices and the Rafale fighter jet deal. “He just keeps talking about Swachh Bharat,” Gandhi, joined by other opposition leaders, said.

Taking a dig at Modi, he said the PM often says that what has happened in the last four years of his rule has not happened in 70 years is actually true. "Hatred is being spread, one Indian is fighting the other, the country is being divided," he said.

Earlier, the Congress chief staged a foot march, kicking off the nationwide shutdown against rising fuel prices. The 1.8-km march was held between Rajghat and Zakir Husain College.

The Congress president first paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial at Rajghat. He also offered water at the memorial which he brought from Kailash Mansarovar yatra before joining other opposition leaders, including Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot, Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Shailja Kumari, Meira Kumar, Jairam Ramesh; NCP's Tariq Anwar, LJD's Sharad Yadav and RJD's Manoj Jha.

This was Gandhi's first public appearance since he returned from the yatra. He had embarked on the yatra on August 31.

Delhi's ruling AAP, which had refused to join the shutdown, also sent its leader Sanjay Singh.

The protest has been called by Congress and Left parties against the spiralling petrol and diesel prices which have reached record levels.

After the end of the march, all the opposition leaders gathered at an Indian Oil petrol pump near the Ramlila Maidan where UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh joined them.

Later, over 200 political leaders and supporters gathered at the ground from where Manmohan Singh and others spoke against the Central government over its failure to curb the price hike.

"The runaway prices of fuel and the free fall in the value of the Rupee shows that the Modi government has completely failed in managing the economy," the Congress had tweeted earlier in the day.