Farmers were ''short-changed'', says Rahul about Interim Budget

Jitendra K Shrivastava
Tribune News Service
Patna, February 3

Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of having “short-changed” farmers in the Interim Budget, as he kicked off the Bihar leg of party’s campaign for general elections on Sunday.

Gandhi addressed a ‘Jan Akanksha Rally’ at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan on Sunday.

Speaking alongside opposition allies Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejaswi Yadav and Loktantrik Janata Dal’s Sharad Yadav, Gandhi mounted a scathing attack on Modi government’s policies such as demonetisation, growing unemployment and agricultural distress, and allegations of corruption in the Rafale jet deal.

He promised that the Congress would waive farm loans as soon as it comes to power, just as it did recently in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

Keeping up its attacks over the Rafale deal, Gandhi repeated his allegations of corruption in the Rafale deal saying: “The entire nation knows that ‘Chaukidaar Chor Hai (the gatekeeper is a thief)’.”

He also obliquely criticised Congress party’s one-time ally Nitish Kumar—chief minister of Bihar whose party’s Janata Dal (United) is now part of the National Democratic Alliance regime—claiming unemployment was on the rise in Bihar.

“Bihar was once known as the centre of education, but it has now become the centre of unemployment. Where it once produced 27 per cent of the country’s sugar, it now contributes to only 2 per cent,” he said.

He promised that his party would set up food processing units across the country, including Bihar, if it is voted to power.

Congress also promised to launch a minimum income guarantee scheme if it is voted to power.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejaswi Yadav on Sunday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi “a factory and whole-seller of lies” and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh “a retailer”.

Tejaswi Yadav, who is Bihar’s leader of opposition, also addressed the rally. “Modi cheated people of Bihar. He promised a special package of Rs. 1.25 lakh crore for Bihar. Soon, people will teach him a lesson,” he said.

Sharad Yadav accused Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah of subverting the Constitution.

 “What Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have done... it hasn’t happened in the past 70 years. Our constitution is danger and we have to protect it by voting them out,” he said.

LJD chief Yadav—whose former party JD(U) is an ally of the BJP at the Centre—claimed that Prime Minister Modi’s government had compromised the integrity of Central Bureau of Investigation and Reserve Bank of India, and added that the country was in a state of “undeclared emergency”.

Congress has 27 MLAs in the Bihar’s 243-member Assembly. Several Congress leaders and legislators have been rallying support in an attempt to get tickets for Lok Sabha elections due April-May this year. 

Standing in for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goyal presented the interim budget in Parliament on Friday.