Rahul takes aim at Modi over farm dole
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday returned the ownership documents to Chhattisgarh farmers and tribal people, whose land was acquired for a project in Bastar district. Gandhi said Chhattisgarh became the first state to return land to tribals after an acquisition.
The Congress had promised in the run up to the Chhattisgarh assembly elections to return the land to its original owner if voted to power. The land was acquired for a factory in 2008, which could not be established by Tata Steel. Spread over 10 villages, total 1,764.61 hectares of land belonging to 1,707 farmers had been acquired by the government.
Speaking at the Adivais Krishak Adhikar Sammelan in Dhuregaon village, Bastar, Gandhi said, “Jal, Jungle and Zameen (Water, forest and land) belong to you and you are the ones who should get the benefits generated from these resources.”
He promised that if Congress was voted to power in Lok Sabha, a minimum income guarantee would be given to the poor and the money would be deposited directly into their bank accounts.
“The poll promises (made by Modi) regarding transfer of ~15 lakh into everyone’s bank account and providing two crore jobs have not been implemented,” he said.
Alleging that demonetisation was a farce, Gandhi said “If demonetisation was a fight against black money, why did the honest people have to stand in queues.”
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, “The previous BJP government claimed that it did not have money to give fair MSPs (minimum support price) to farmers. We have proved that it can be done after forming the government.”