Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday said that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi would be a “complete misfit” as Prime Minister as he was unaware of the basics of agriculture and village life of the majority of the population of the country.
Calling the Gandhi scion “inexperienced and politically naïve”, Badal said that he was ignorant about the basic topography of the nation. Badal, addressing a gathering at a Sangat Darshan programme in Bathinda, said that a country where nearly 60 per cent of the population resides in villages cannot be run by a person who was not acquainted to the problems faced by them.
The 86-year-old Akali veteran, who heads the Akali-BJP alliance in Punjab, backed the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi saying that the country was in need of “a decisive leadership”, and Modi was the only “ray of hope” for the people of the country. “Only a visionary, strong and experienced leader like him could take the country ahead on the path of prosperity and inclusive growth,” said Badal.
Attacking Congress for its step-motherly treatment to the State, Badal said that instead of rewarding Punjabis for their contribution in making the country self-reliant in food production, the Congress Government had adopted a discriminatory posture toward them. Badal rued that farmers of the State were reeling under a whopping debt of as much as Rs 32,000 crore.
Slamming the Centre, he said that Punjabis could never forget how Congress had denied the State its capital, a legitimate share in river waters, Punjabi-speaking areas in neighbouring States besides irrelevantly meddling in its social, political, economic and even religious affairs. He also said that mass exodus of industry was taking place due to denial of economic package to Punjab on the lines of those given to neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Reiterating that Union Government must give ‘royalty on water and food grains’ to the State on the pattern of the same given to other States for supplying coal and other minerals in the country, the Chief Minister said that the hard working and resilient farmers of the State had over exploited the only available natural resources of the State in terms of water and fertility of the soil to make the country self reliant in food production. Exhorting the people to ensure their fulsome support and cooperation to the lok Sabha MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal in the coming general elections, Badal said that due to her persistent efforts, Bathinda lok Sabha segment has witnessed massive development in last few years.