Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of attempting to divide the country into the rich minority and a poor majority during a visit to Ballabhgarh constituency in Faridabad on Saturday evening.

Arriving four hours behind schedule, Gandhi reached the Dussehra Ground in Ballabgarh to address a gathering of around 9,000 villagers.

Haryana goes to the polls on October 13.

The Congress general secretary began his speech saying that there were primarily two schools of thought during the last election —the shining India propagated by the BJP and that of inclusive progress championed by the Congress.

Taking a dig at the BJP he said the party had taken the “India Shining” slogan from the electronic media and had failed to deliver on its promise.

“They have conveniently forgotten our farmers. When they were in power, they gave a slogan of ‘India Shining’ which was a lingo our poor farmers and the underprivileged never understood. They wanted to divide India into two portions - one of the rich and affluent which is a minority and the other of the poor and deprived which is in majority. They always tried to hide the real India and promoted the wealthy,” he added.

Talking about the UPA coalition government at the Centre, Gandhi said: “We made a promise of making a people’s government and so we have. Schemes like NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) have proved a boon to those unemployed in our villages.

... contd.