Rahul returns title deeds to C’garh farmers, tribals
ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL The land was acquired for Tata Steel factory project in Bastar district
JAGDALPUR: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday returned the ownership documents to Chhattisgarh farmers and tribal people, whose land was acquired for a Tata Steel factory in Bastar district of the state. Gandhi said Chhattisgarh became the first state to return land to the farmers and tribals after having acquired the same for a development project.
The Congress had promised in the run up to the Chhattisgarh assembly election 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.
This was the first public func- tion held by Gandhi, who had put off all political events in the wake of Pulwama terror attack on Thursday. At his first postPulwama public rally, the Congress president spoke mostly about the farmers and tribals.
Speaking at the Adivais Kris- hak Adhikar Sammelan at the Dhuregaon village in Bastar, Gandhi also targeted the BJP saying, “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.”
Gandhi also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over farm loan waiver. He said, “Farmers pay insurance premiums but do not receive insurance when their crops are damaged. This money goes straight to the pocket of people l i ke 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 hone s t peopl e had t o s t a nd i n 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.