Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday night said that the results in assembly elections proved that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will find it difficult to win elections now.
He said that 2014 defeat in Lok Sabha polls was ‘absolutely the best thing’ to happen for him as he learnt a lot from that experience. He said, “I’ve learnt a lot about that elections. I’ve learnt a lot about how to think about things. I’ve learnt a lot about humility…Frankly, Mr Narendra Modi taught me that lesson. Basically, I see what not to do… I feel sad for Mr Modi. He had a great opportunity to transform this country, but certain amount of arrogance came in and that’s fatal for politicians.”
He told reporters at the Congress headquarters at 24, Akbar Road, “I think with a resurgent Congress party in the states and where the BJP is ruling, and the combined opposition, it’s going to be very difficult for the prime minister and the BJP to win the elections. That’s pretty clear. This is a clear message to the prime minister and the BJP that country is not happy with what they are doing. The country is not happy with the demonetisation, gst and the lack of jobs.”
Gandhi said that the mandate also showed the growing discontent among voters over the failed promises of Modi. He said, “Certainly, it’s pretty clear that there’s a feeling among people in our country that what was committed by Mr Modi, he’s not been able to deliver. That;s something we felt throughout the campaign very strongly. People were coming up to us and saying this.”
He said that he would have preferred a better result in Telangana.
Gandhi said that when Modi was elected as the prime minister, he was elected on ‘three platforms. “They were employment, corruption and farmers. People expected prime minister to fight corruption. Now that expectation is gone. Now people believe that Narendra Modi himself is corrupt,” he added.
He said that his party will fight against BJP’s ideology and defeat them. He said, “We have defeated them today and we will do this again in 2019. But we don’t want to erase anyone from the face of India.”
He also raised questions on the authenticity of EVMs in elections. He said, “As far as the EVMs are concerned, there are issues with them, universally. If the people in the country are uncomfortable with the EVM, then it’s a big issue which needs to be addressed. But the central issue of EVM is still there, if the chip is manipulated you can affect the entire voting system, that’s not possible with manual voting. This is a question that has been answered in the US&other countries, where they’ve said that we don’t want an EVM.”
The Congress decisively won Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and has also staked claims to form the government in Madhya Pradesh. PM Modi too had conceded defeats in the three states.
