BJP ignoring poor and weaker sections: Rahul Gandhi

Mumbai : Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday accused the BJP of ignoring the poor and the weaker sections of society, and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide a platform for their upliftment.

Rahul, who took out a padyatra (foot march) from Bandra Bandstand to Dharavi here, also highlighted the potential that exists in the world's largest slum, and said small businesses there needed support from the government.

"I met people from all walks of life. All of them told me one thing, the focus that needs to be given to poor and the weak sections of the society, the labourers, small business men, that focus is neither being given by the Maharashtra Government nor by the government in Delhi," he said in Dharavi.

"'Make in India' karna hai to pehle 'Make in Dharavi' kariye, chote udyogpatiyon ke haaton ko mazboot kariye (if you want to Make in India succeed, then focus first on Make in Dharavi, empower the small businessmen here)," he added.

He also criticised the government for not passing on the benefits of reduced crude oil price in the international market to the common people and accused it of working only for big businessmen.

"I want to ask the govt one thing, why don't you spend the money you have earned on petroleum to bring down the electricity price," he said.

"Tell me Modi ji why dal prices have gone up, why prices of other commodities are going up," he added.

Asserting on the importance of job creators, he assured that the Congress would protect the rights of small businessmen in Mumbai and raise the issue in the Parliament as well.

Earlier, during another stop-over during his padyatra, he interacted with hawkers, street vendors and taxi-auto drivers.

Rahul said that the auto-taxi drivers were often required to pay bribes and faced many problems in getting permits.

Before his march, Rahul interacted with the management students of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), where he hit out at the Centre over various issues including the GST Bill and terrorism policies.