Rahul lashes out at Modi, accuses him of being 'anti-poor'

Party President Sonia Gandhi accused the Modi government of adding insult to the injury of farmers by bringing the Land ordinance.

New Delhi - Projecting the government as “anti-farmer” and “pro industrialist”, Congress on Sunday declared full scale war against it over Land Acquisition Bill with Rahul Gandhi accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of bringing ordinance on it to pay back ‘loan’ of industrialists.

The Congress Vice President, who just returned from a two-month absence from public life, said the new land bill is not only against the interests of farmers but also the tribals.

“I tell you how Modi ji won the election. He took loans of thousands of crores from big industrialists from which his marketing was done. How will he pay back that loan now? He will do it by giving your land to those top industrialists. He wants to weaken the farmers, then snatch their land and give it to his industrialist friends,” he said addressing a farmers’ rally in the national capital New Delhi.

“Through the Gujarat model, Modi ji showed that he can snatch the land of farmers quite easily and convinced the industrialists that he can do the same in the whole country. This is Modi’s model — weaken the foundation, then attach a ladder to the building, paint it and show to the world that the building is shining,” Rahul said.

Party President Sonia Gandhi accused the Modi government of adding insult to the injury of farmers by bringing the Land ordinance.

Promising to fight for the farmers’ cause without making any compromises, she said, “Modi government’s attitude is totally against the farmers, the helpless and the poor. We have got a new energy here and we will fight for the poor and the weak.

“We will not allow those forces to succeed, who want to destroy the legacy of our freedom. We will fight without any fear against such forces. We might be out of power but we will not allow any leniency in our efforts in this direction,” the Congress President said.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the new government had brought the land bill to hurt the interests of the farmers as he alleged that Modi had “sold dreams” to farmers and youth to win Lok Sabha polls. 

Union Home Minister slams Rahul Gandhi for ‘misleading’ farmers 

Chandauli - Union Home minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday slammed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for “misleading” peasants at the Kisan Maha rally and made an appeal to the community to not get misguided by rumours spread against NDA government’s land acquisition ordinance and other policies.

Addressing a Kisan Mahapanchayat in his native district here, the Home Minister said, “Rahul Gandhi (or Sonia Gandhi and his Congress party) holding a Kisan Maha rally will not help them in misleading farmers against the land acquisition policy.”

“Modi-led NDA government is committed for improving the lives of the farmers, who have become hopeless because of the Congress rule and its faulty policies,” he said.

In his over 30 minutes speech, speaking mostly in Bhojpuri, Singh said his government was making all efforts to save farmers from taking extreme steps like committing suicide for which the NDA government was framing up new policies which would completely be farmer friendly.

The Union Minister, while addressing farmers, appealed them they should not get mislead from the rumours that were being spread about his NDA government’s land ordinance and other policies.

“I was born here, I am a son of a farmer and very well understand the plight of farmers as I myself has been one among them, before moving to this high post,” he said.

“Our government has changed the assessment of crop loss from the previous 50 per cent to 33 per cent, so now farmers who have suffered a crop loss of 33 per cent will be eligible for the crop compensation,” he said.

Highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s seriousness in bringing an improvement in the lives of farmers, Singh said: “When Modi was leaving for his foreign tour, the same night he called me on my phone and asked to send the proposal for his signature so that this new norm of 33 per cent from 50 per cent may come into effect from the very next day, before he leaves the country and our farmers may not have to suffer anymore.”

He also said he will speak on the irrigation problems and other issues in Chandauli, and instructed district officials to access the crop loss properly for availing compensation.