BJP’s balloon will burst: Rahul

The HinduCongress vice president Rahul Gandhi addressing the party workers ahead of releasing the party manifesto in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photo: Ramesh Sharma

Expressing confidence that UPA will form the government again, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asserted that BJP’s campaign “balloon” will burst like ‘India Shining’ in 2004 as he warned that Narendra Modi’s coming to power would be damaging for the country.

Mr. Gandhi, along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cautioned that Modi’s ideology was against the idea of India and the Congress will fight in a determined manner to ensure that this ideology is defeated.

Releasing the party’s manifesto here, they debunked the opinion polls which are predicting a dismal show by the UPA in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and said everybody will be “surprised” when the election results come in.

On the upbeat campaign of NDA, Mr. Gandhi said, “just like the ’India Shining’ balloon exploded... I can say certainly the balloon will explode.”

He said this will be particularly true in Uttar Pradesh where 80 seats are at stake.

He said BJP has the ability of carrying out campaigns like ‘India Shining’ but all should keep in mind that that campaign “evaporated” when the results came in 2004.

Attacking Mr. Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Mr. Gandhi said he had nothing against him as an individual but was opposed to his ideology which is against the idea of India. “Modi represents an ideology which is exclusive,” he said.

Mr. Gandhi was asked whether he agrees with the statement of the Prime Minister about two months back that Mr. Modi’s coming to power will be “disastrous” for the country.

Replying, the Congress vice president said, “the PM is a wise man and on most of the issues I bow to him. I tend to agree with his wisdom.”

He went on to add that it was not an issue of an “individual” but the “ideology which is questioning the idea of India. “Individuals may have personal likes or dislikes but the real danger is the ideology,” he added.

Mr. Gandhi debunked the opinion polls which project a dismal show for the Congress.

“I frankly don’t have much faith in the opinion polls. In 2004 also, the story of Congress was over as per the opinion polls. In 2009 also, we were given no chance. But we got more seats. So, we cannot go 100 per cent by the opinion polls,” the Congress president said.