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Rahul promises farm debt waiver
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi On Tuesday made a strong pitch for another farm debt-waiver scheme in run up to the 2017 Uttar Pradesh polls.
​Deoria: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi On Tuesday made a strong pitch for another farm debt-waiver scheme in run up to the 2017 Uttar Pradesh polls.
Addressing a crowd at Rudrapur in Deoria district, Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of bias towards the rich as he began a 2,500-km ‘Kisan Yatra’ in election-bound Uttar Pradesh. He said the Prime Minister wanted to waive off loans of the rich but wasn’t ready to do that in the case of farmers.
“Modiji must waive off loans taken by farmers in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere in the country,” he said. “We have embarked on this Yatra to know the problems of the farmers and to help Modiji understand the situation too.”
With the Congress leaving no-stone unturned to regain its past political glory in UP where it has been out of power for almost 27 years now, the party is seeking to attract the over 22 million farmer households in the state by taking recourse to the debt waiver.
Under the tutelage of master poll strategist Prashant Kishor alias PK, Gandhi unveiled his 'Khat Sabha' meetings in the backwaters of UP with the first port of call at Deoria in eastern UP.
The party had especially brought about 1500 'khats' (charpoys) for the event, which were later taken away by the villagers after the event got over, much to the amusement of party leaders and the battery of mediapersons.
Gandhi said the Modi government had backtracked on its promise of providing succour to the farmers at a time when farm input was rising and farmers were not getting their fair profit.
He also referred to the steep power tariffs in the state, drawing cheers from the crowd that had gathered to listen to the heir apparent of Congress. The well attended meeting also boosted the morale of the party leaders.
Gandhi further said the Modi regime had stopped raising the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of farm commodities, which had made agriculture a losing proposition.
Interestingly, Gandhi did not target the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government in UP and devoted all his energies to attack Modi in his short 10 minute address.
The 'Khat Sabhas' are designed to allow Gandhi interact with farmers while sitting on the rustic 'charpoy' in some of the remoter districts of the state.
The Congress is desperately seeking to improve its tally in the state Assembly from under 30 now in the 403-member Vidhan Sabha.
Over the next month, Gandhi is scheduled to tour 39 districts and cover about 2,500 km across 55 of UP's 80 parliamentary and 223 of its 403 Assembly constituencies.
