Modi Govt Waived Off Rs 3.5 lakh Crore For Corporates, Gave Rs 17 to Farmers: Rahul Gandhi

Bhopal: Kicking off Congress party’s Lok Sabha campaign in Madhya Pradesh, party president Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked PM Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal and the direct cash transfer scheme announced for farmers in the union budget.

Addressing the Kisan Abhar Rally in Bhopal’s Jumboorie Maidan, Gandhi said that while Congress had waived off thousands of crores in farm loans, BJP will give farmers Rs 17-a-day.

Mocking the scheme, Gandhi said, “I was sitting in parliament and suddenly the BJP MPs started thumping benches aloud and I wondered what great thing has PM Modi done.”

I was told, Gandhi said, that farmers were offered Rs 17-a-day assistance.

The Congress president further ridiculed the scheme, saying that if the amount is divided further for an average family, it comes down to just Rs 3.5 a member.

“Modi government waived off Rs 3.5 lakh crore to corporates and gave Rs 17 to farmers,” alleged the Congress president lauding MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan government’s move of waiving off farm loans immediately after assuming power.

“The farm loan has been waived off neither by Rahul Gandhi nor Kamal Nath. Farmers themselves have waived off their loans by bringing Congress to power,” said the Congress chief.

Gandhi reiterated that it was the government of the youth and farmers and Congress was there just to follow their orders.

Gandhi also attacked the Modi government over the Rafale deal. Citing a media report that said the defence ministry objected to the "parallel negotiations" by the Prime Minister's Office into the Rafale deal, he said that Modi had “secretly negotiated” with the France government to benefit his friends.

“Now it is crystal clear that the ‘watchman’ is the ‘thief’,” he added.

During the rally, former BJP minister Ramkrishna Kusmaria joined the Congress in the presence of Gandhi along with his 15,000 supporters. Hitting out at the BJP, the former agriculture minister said that the party talks about ‘sanskars’ but pushes away elderly leaders.

CM Kamal Nath on the occasion offered an account of his 45 days of government and asked the critics to wait till 100 days to see the difference.

Party general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia in his address claimed that Friday’s rally would convey a message against PM Narendra Modi across the country and addressed Gandhi as the future Prime Minister.