JAIPUR, Aug 20: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra
Modi of arrogance over his remark that he will return next Independence Day to address the nation
from the Red Fort.
Gehlot also said people will make ‘Mission 156’ of the Congress successful in the Rajasthan assembly
election due later this year. ‘Mission 156’ refers to the party’s target of winning 156 of the total 200
assembly seats in the state.
The chief minister was speaking to reporters at the Congress headquarters here after paying tribute
to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary.
“We do not have the ego and arrogance like them (PM Modi) to say that next time I will again come
to Red Fort on August 15. I cannot say this. He can only say this. Neither do we have ego nor
arrogance. We are doing our work,” he said.
On the renaming of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library as the Prime Ministers’ Museum and
Library Society, Gehlot said PM Modi is doing it either under pressure from the RSS or the BJP to
wipe out the names of those who created history for this country.
He alleged the ruling party at the Centre wants to forget those who sacrificed their lives and
remained in jails before Independence. “Now, they have changed the name of Nehru Memorial
Museum and Library,” Gehlot said.
To a question on how he was moving towards his party’s ‘Mission 156’, Gehlot said, “I can claim that
people have made up their mind towards the mission and are moving towards it. People are
supreme…”
He said Prime Minister Modi has visited Rajasthan six times in the last few months but “this is not
going to help”. “Whether you come to Rajasthan 15-20 times or do up-down, people have made up
their mind to repeat the government,” the chief minister said.
He alleged that there is an environment of fear among traders and industrialists that they are afraid
to speak out. “They have to donate money out of fear and these electoral bonds are a big scandal in
the country,” Gehlot claimed. (PTI)
