Rahul takes aim at Modi over farm dole
IN CHHATTISGARH Returns tribal land acquired for a steel factory
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. RAHUL GANDHI, Congress president
BASTAR: 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.”
“Farmers pay insurance premiums but do not receive insurance when their crops are damaged. This money goes straight to the pocket of people like Anil Ambani… If Narendra Modi can waive off loans of industrialists like Anil Ambani, Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi then we can do waive off farm loans too.”
“If demonetisation was a fight against black money, why honest people had to stand in queues,” said Gandhi attacking the Modi government over its decision to recall nearly 86 per cent of the money in circulation in November 2016. The Congress has maintained that demonetisation led to massive loss of jobs in small and medium scale sector of economy.
During his visit, the Congress president also unveiled a number of development projects under the newly elected Bhupesh Baghel government of Chhattisgarh.
Reacting to Gandhi’s speech, BJP spokesperson and senior leader Sacchinand Upasane accused Gandhi of misleading people.
“What the Bharatiya Janata Party government has done in last five years in Centre and Raman Singh did in 15 years of Bharatiya Janata Party rule in Chhattisgarh was never done since independence,” he said.