Taking exception to the claims of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi that all the development in the state was the result of his better administration, Union Minister for Minority Affairs, K. Rahman Khan has said that it was the Congress that laid the foundation for all the development in Gujarat.
“ Decades ago, it was the Congress that was instrumental in establishing giant companies such as petro-chemical, shipping, refineries and fertilizers in Gujarat, due to which, the Gujarat witnessed prosperity, the contribution of the BJP government led by Modi is nothing in the State”, he said at a press conference here on Friday.
Chiding the ‘Gujarat-model of development’ claimed by the BJP, the Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP asked what is the Gujarat model and why people of India do not know anything about that so-called development model?.
Referring to the 2002, Godhra carnage, Mr. Khan said that though any court might not have convicted Mr. Modi of that genocide where over 3000 Muslims massacred, he said Mr. Modi cannot escape from his moral responsibility and from the fact that the brutal incident took place under his rule.
“ It is the duty of Chief Minister of the State to protect the people of the State, but he (Mr. Modi) failed utterly to protect the citizens of Gujarat. He may escape from the law, but his integrity and intentions will always be questioned”, he retorted.
With regard to controversy raised after Mr. Modi reportedly mentioning the name of his wife in the affidavit presented while filing his nomination papers from Vadodara, Mr. Khan said that though the incident carries no political significance, however he felt that it shows the hypocritical nature of Mr. Modi.
“ If he is already married, then why he kept lying in the past that he is single. Now, when the election commission has made it mandatory to mention the marital status of the candidate, fearing that his nomination could be rejected, [Mr.] Modi mention the names of his wife. This is nothing but his sheer hypocritical nature”, Mr. Khan said.
On the occasion, he mentioned that Union Government has implemented 66 of 69 recommendations of the Rajindar Sachar committee report for improving the socio-economic status of Muslims in the country.
He however admitted that the implementation was not effective because most of the schemes were supposed to be implemented by the State governments, and added that several States did not implement the schemes.Courtesy:Karnataka Muslims
http://karnatakamuslims.com/portal/congress-laid-the-foundation-for-gujarat-development-says-rahman-khan/