Assam: Rahul bats for North East people; compares Modi with Hitler

Guwahati, Feb 26: As the "battle of power for 2014" is coming nearer, the political rivals have heated up the level of criticising each other.

The Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lashed out at the BJP and compared its party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

While interacting with students at the Don Bosco University, Rahul launched a veiled attack at Modi by saying, " Hitler was an angry man. He hated Jews, Russians, Communists. He hated everyone. His country was reduced to dust", while adding, "Similarly, the opposition believes in handing power to one man and makes him crush everyone else."

While accusing opposition of being involved in "divisive politics", Rahul said, "Politicians come and say that others are bad and need to be taught a lesson. This will only create violence. We don't want an India in which people of a particular religion feel they don't belong here. When politicians speak with hatred, it is going to harm you."

Rahul on increasing connectivity with North East

Besides, Rahul also said that poor connectivity in the North East would have to be aggressively addressed to remove the barriers of movement in the rest of the country and to properly utilise the productivity of the people.

"The reason for the energy of the North-East people not being properly utilised is because of poor connectivity in the region" Rahul said.

Opposition believes in handing power to one man: Rahul Gandhi

"Incidents like the Nido (Taniam of Arunachal Pradesh) case are barriers for movement of people. They don't want to move because they are scared. We'll have to reduce those barriers as well", he said.

"We must ensure that the North-East people can move between states, in the NE and in the rest of the country", he further said.

Insurgency issue in Manipur can be solved through talks: Rahul

"I am inspired by Mahatma Gandhi that any conflict can be resolved through discussions, love and peace" Gandhi said when asked if the Armed Forces Special Powers Act would be withdrawn from Manipur where it was responsible for social disharmonies affecting women and students.

"You cannot solve problems without discussing them and by using force against these people. They must have the power to do what they want to for charting out their own destiny and fulfilling their dreams. So more power to youngsters and the people," he said.

"I am really confident that the problem in Manipur like the problem in Assam can be resolved and will be resolved soon. There are two competing ideas when it comes to governance. One idea says governance should be done in a centralised manner by one person. Another idea says that governance should be done by giving as much power to the people as possible," he added.

OneIndia News

(With PTI inputs)