Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on incidents of rape across the country.Addressing a meeting of women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) here, he said though Modi gave the slogan of "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao", he is maintaining silence on rape of women and girls in different states."A BJP MLA in Uttar Pradesh raped a woman but the Prime Minister was silent. In Bihar minor girls were raped but he did not speak a word. Incidents of rape are taking place across the country but he is not opening his mouth," he said.Rahul, who arrived here on a two-day visit, kicked off the party's campaign for the coming elections to Telangana Assembly and Lok Sabha.He said that Congress strongly believes that the country cannot progress without women and they should get their due in politics, economy and other spheres of life.Stating that SHGs are key to women empowerment, Rahul said if Congress party comes to power in Telangana and at the Centre, it would extend all help to SHGs like its previous governments had done.
Rahul interacted with the women, who complained that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government has stopped bearing interest component for bank loans taken by SHGs. They also spoke about non-implementation of "Abhay Hastam", a contributory pension scheme for SHG members launched by the previous Congress government in undivided Andhra Pradesh.The Congress president promised that if Congress is voted to power, it will bear interest of SHG loans and revive the pension scheme.Rahul targeted Narendra Modi government for what he called waiving loans of 15 rich industrialists to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakh crore but not waiving loans of women, farmers, and small and medium enterprises.He alleged that the demonetization was aimed at taking money from the pockets of poor and waive the huge bank loans of top industrialists and businessmen.Terming GST (Goods and Services Tax) as "Gabbar Singh Tax", the Congress President reiterated that if voted to power, his party would implement GST with single slab and there will be no need for people to fill different forms every month.