We have to ensure that the poor are the part of growth: Rahul Gandhi

September 10, 2009, Coimbatore(TN): Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi while addressing a rally in Coimbatore expressed his thanks for the love and affection shown to him by the people of Tamil Nadu. He said, “Wherever I have gone, I have been shown the love and affection that the Tamil people have for me and for my family. And this affection that you have shown me I will not forget. The affection and the love that the Tamil people have will not leave me alone. The Tamil people are my family and this show the relationship for many years. I remember, when I was a little boy and my grandmother Indriaji went through the worst time in her political life in 1977, and the people of Tamil Nadu stood with her in a worst period and I remember the affection my father had for the people of Tamil Nadu and the love and affection that the Tamil people had for my father. This relationship goes deeper than just me. It is a relationship that is long and this love and affection has long history. And it does not matter whether it is Tamil people in Tamil Nadu or it is Tamil people in Sri Lanka or it is Tamil people in the rest of the world, wherever you are, you make us proud and we are going to stand up for the Tamil people. We know that our brothers in Sri Lanka are suffering and the government of India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Soniaji, myself have and will do everything in our power to ensure that the Tamil people in Sri Lanka are given their full rights. I will like to talk to you a little bit about what I am doing here Tamil Nadu. Wherever I travel in India, the youngsters talk to me and tell me that there is disconnect between politics and the youth. The youth does not find it easy to enter the political system. Youngsters want to change the way the politics was, find it very difficult to come into the political system.”

Talking about the participation of the Youth in politics, Congress General Secretary said “Here in Tamil Nadu in the last three days, I have met hundreds of youngsters who want to change the way, politics works in this country. They want to change the way the politics works in Tamil Nadu. And all of them say to me that there is no room for youngsters in the politics of Tamil Nadu. The political parties in Tamil Nadu don’t have any space for the youngsters. I am here to open the door of the Youth Congress to the youth of Tamil Nadu and here to create a elected Youth Congress that will be the true representative of the youth of this state. In the next few weeks the Youth Congress is going to take a historical step to elect its all office bearers. This is going to become the only democratically elected youth organization in Tamil Nadu. And we are going to develop the future leadership of Tamil Nadu in this organization. And thousands of thousands of youngsters are going to change the way the politics of Tamil Nadu works. I asked as many Tamil Youngsters to come and join this movement the politics is done in this state. I have seen the energy of the youth in Tamil Nadu in the last three days and I am confident that you have the power and the energy to take the Tamil Nadu to a bright new future.”

Mentioning the welfare schemes of UPA government for the common man he said, “I would also like to speak a bit about what the UPA government is doing for the people of India and for the people of Tamil Nadu. We fought the last election with the Aam Admi agenda with the idea that we are not ready to accept the two Indias. One India which is rich and has opportunity and another India which is poor and lacks the opportunity. And I am going to restate that we are going to ensure that the whole country move forward together and no body left behind, that the poor people benefit from the growth-that we are going to have.”

Talking about the schemes like NAREGA he said, “We have taken very positive steps to ensure that the poor are the part of our economic growth. We have developed the world’s biggest employment programme the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. We have given works to thousands of thousands of thousands of Indians. Today UPA government sends almost double amount of money that the NDA government used to send to Tamil Nadu. We send almost 56 thousand crores to this state. I myself have traveled on the roads made by the UPA government, and the thousands of kilometers of roads that the UPA government has built are as good as the roads anywhere in the world. I would like to end by saying, I m very proud of the Tamil people. Tamil people make us proud wherever they go. They make us proud in the rest of the work. I would like to thank all the people of Tamil Nadu from the bottom of the heart for this. And I look forward to coming back often to Tamil Nadu and one day I look forward to see a Congress government in Tamil Nadu. Thank you.”