Modi ji spreading hatred, country will oust him: Rahul Gandhi

Rae Bareli, Jan 24: Reiterating "Chowkidar chor hai" (Watchman is thief) jibe, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday continued his bitter attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led government at the Centre. Rahul is on a two-day visit to Amethi and Rae Bareilly, the Lok Sabha constituencies that he and his mother Sonia Gandhi represent, respectively.

Prime Minister keeps refering to himself as a 'Chowkidaar' (Watchman) in his speeches, and Rahul Gandhi, eversince the Rafale deal began making headlines, has been chiding PM Modi by saying "Chowkidar chor hai" in many of his public addresses.

"Jahan bhi jaate hain Modi ji nafrat failate hai. Hindu-Musalman ko ladaenge, Punjab mein Hindu-Sikh ki ladai kara denge. Gujarat mein kahenge UP-Bihar ke logon ko bhagao. Ye desh nafrat se nahi chal sakta hai. Yeh desh jod ke hi aage badh sakta hai. (Whereever Modi ji goes, he spreads hatred. (He) will pit Hindus against Muslims, in Punjab between Hindus and Sikhs. In Gujarat he will say chase away people from UP and Bihar. This country cannot move forward with hatred, This country can move forward only with unity," the Congress president said in Rae Bareilly.

He said the nation will oust Modi as Prime Minister in the upcoming general elections. "People now know that chawkidaar chor hai," he added.

Earlier today in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi questioned the Prime Minister over the removal of Alok Verma as the CBI chief and linked it with probe into the Rafale deal matter.

"When CBI wanted to investigate Rafale deal, the Director was removed at 1:30 am. When the Supreme Court said no, it's wrong, and he be reinstated, the person is reinstated, but within 2 hours they get a note that there will be a meeting, that the CBI Director needs to be removed," news agency quoted Rahul as saying.

The Congress and other opposition parties allege that the government went for a less-than-lucrative deal for 36 Rafale jets with France's Dassault so that Anil Ambani's inexperienced defence company could snag an offset contract with Dassault.

The offset clause means that in exchange for the contract, Dassault has to invest half the value of the deal -- about Rs. 30,000 crore -- in Indian firms. Reliance Defence was chosen as one of those "offset" partners and is to manufacture plane parts - though not for the 36 jets ordered by India.