AMETHI (TIP): Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of living in an ivory tower disconnected with grassroot realities, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said here on December 4 his style of doing politics was different from that of the PM. “Jo Sarkar mein hain aur meri soch mein bada fark hai (There is a great difference in ideology of the one in power and mine),” he said, adding that he believed in giving power to the people while the PM preferred to become the centre of power himself.

Rahul also came forward to assist one Vidyavati, a member of the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana who was scheduled to make a speech on the 10th anniversary of the Indira Gandhi Eye Hospital in Amethi. Vidyavati who was too short to be visible from behind the podium and was interrupted by Rahul who asked her to stand on a foot stool to address the crowd. Later, making his own address, he said, “I could have sat there and watched. But she came here wanting to be seen and heard. I want to ensure no one feels disadvantaged. This is my way of doing politics.

I want to strengthen people.” Making a dig at Modi’s “autocratic” style of functioning, Rahul said, “Unki ye soch hai ki poore Hindustan ko Dilli se chalaya jaaye.” (He wants to run all of India sitting in New Delhi) Alleging also that the NDA government had created a clique, where PM Modi held the reins of power and a select group of bureaucrats did his bidding, Rahul asked his audiences to use their discretion to decide what kind of governance they preferred. “It is up to you to choose whether you want a government that gave you RTI, panchayati raj, rural employment guarantee and food security, or a government that likes to keep all the power centered in itself,” he said. Concluding his two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency, Rahul reiterated his dig at the Centre’s Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana and said as MP to 750 villages, he wanted each one to be model villages, rather than one single village.

Participating in the anniversary celebrations of the eye hospital, Rahul also said the eye hospital, named after his grand mother, aimed to rid UP of cataract in the coming years. He also congratulated the doctors and staff members of the hospital for being adjudged the best eye hospital in Uttar Pradesh, in a recent AC Neilson survey on hospitals. While touring his constituency, Rahul stopped at a garment store in the city where he first tried and then purchased a jacket.

Even as visitors looked on fondly, a family that ad come visiting the shop asked Rahul about his wedding plans, advising the MP to wed in Amethi so they could join the ‘baraat.’ Jovially, the Congress vice president, now 44, replied, “You all give me such a long list of things to do that I have little time left to do anything else.”