“Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi ran away with Rs35,000 crore, Vijay Mallya took off with Rs9,000 crore and even Lalit Modi decamped... But he says nothing... He will also run away,” Gandhi said, without naming the prime minister.
Gandhi was addressing a meeting of the party’s booth-level workers in suburban Goregaon.
Launching his sharpest attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Modi, Gandhi claimed there was “fear” now in Modi’s voice.
“Unki awaaz me ek ghabraahat hai (There is fear in his voice)... The prime minister runs the country through ‘bhaashans’ (speeches) only... But I am not scared as I am a soldier of truth,” Gandhi said.
Modi had said that he would be a watchman of the country and not the prime minister, but instead he has become “a watchman for only 15 to 20 rich people,” Gandhi said.
He said the country is suffering under the “lies” of Modi, while the Congress always stood for the truth.
Hinting at opposition unity in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi warned that the Congress and all other parties together will defeat the BJP.
“In Gujarat, you barely survived. In Karnataka you were thrown out. In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, you will be nowhere in the picture. The Congress and opposition parties will unitedly vanquish you,” Gandhi said.
Referring to the demonetisation of November 2016, the Congress president said the common masses who used to eke out a survival with Rs500 or Rs1,000 were suddenly left in the lurch as the government laughingly banned those currencies.
However, he said a certain Jayesh Shah (referring to BJP president Amit Shah’s son) did not suffer and could convert his Rs50,000 to Rs800mn in a short time.
Accusing the BJP and Modi of spreading hatred throughout the country, Gandhi said the Congress has always united India and taken everybody along.
“The ordinary Indians who voted for the BJP had faith in the prime minister, but now they feel Modi has betrayed their trust totally. Farmers were expecting proper prices for the produce from him, but now they die alone and the prime minister is not there with them. He has made everybody cry.”
Earlier in the day, Gandhi pleaded not guilty to defaming the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
He said he will fight charges in court that he defamed the RSS organisation when he accused the rightwing movement of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi.
A member of the RSS sued Gandhi for the remarks made in 2014.
The Congress chief vowed to battle not only the charges but the Hindu nationalist movement behind the defamation case.
“My battle is ideological, and I will fight and win,” Gandhi told reporters outside the courtroom in Bhiwandi, a suburb of Mumbai.
If found guilty Gandhi could face up to two years in prison.
Gandhi had tried to have the case thrown out in the Supreme Court in 2016 before agreeing to stand and defend himself against allegations he smeared the RSS.