Mamata, Modi both want to crush all opposition: Rahul Gandhi

Niyamatpur (West Bengal): Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying they wish to crush the entire opposition. Stating that both leaders wish to run their governments single-handedly, he called on people to vote for a Left-Congress coalition in the upcoming Bengal assembly polls. Gandhi, who addressed his maiden election meeting for the polls in the eastern state, said his party has teamed up with the Left Front to take on Banerjee. "In Delhi, Narendra Modi is the prime minister. And across India, Congress is fighting against him," he said. Accusing Modi of trying to "finish off democracy" in the country, Gandhi said the Congress governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were brought down through money power. "In Arunachal Pradesh, he caused the fall of our government by giving money. He did the same in Uttarakhand because he wants there should be only one leader in India - Narendra Modi," the Congress vice president said. He said Modi only wanted the ideology of Nagpur (the RSS headquarters) to prevail in the country, and tries to crush any contrary viewpoint. "He wants there should be only one ideology in India, one view point, that of Nagpur, which he wants to impose on the country. And wherever one stands up against him, be it in a university, or any Congress leader in any state, or any bureaucrat, Narendra Modi wants to crush it." Stating that what Modi is doing across India, Banerjee was emulating in West Bengal, Gandhi said: "She also wants the monopoly of one person." He was speaking during a rally here in Burdwan district. Gandhi said whenever he met MPs of the Trinamool and Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party in parliament, they complained that they were not given any importance. "I meet her (Banerjee's) MPs in parliament, and they say only one person matters in Trinamool. They tell me 'What we think, what we want, that is not paid any attention to.' The BJP Mps say the same thing." Attacking Banerjee on the issue of corruption, Gandhi raised the Saradha scam and Narada News portal's purported sting operation that showed a number of Trinamool leaders accepting bribes in return for favouring a fictitious company. Gandhi said when the Congress had formed the government along with the Trinamool, both had promised to fight against corruption. "But when the country's biggest scam, the Saradha ponzi scheme scandal, came into the public domain, Mamataji did not say anything against it. Her partymen straightaway took money. The sting operation showed her partymen taking money, but Mamataji is quiet." Stating that the Congress did not want Bengal to be steeped in corruption, Gandhi said strict action must be taken against all those involved in graft. He said the Congress-LF would not run a government of "one person". "It will be a government by all. It will be a government of the poor and the common people, a government of tribals and dalits, weaker sections." Explaining the reason for his party aligning with the LF, Gandhi said, he has gone by the wish of the state Congress leaders and workers. He urged the Congress workers to hold the hands of LF cadres. "I have agreed to whatever you wanted. Now you go along with Left Front workers, hold their hands, and defeat Mamataji and the Trinamool Congress here. Bring a coalition government in Bengal," the Congress vice president said.