Making a frontal attack on the prime minister, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday alleged that Narendra Modi had the money to buy two planes to tour the world but he did not have money to clear the sugarcane arrears of farmers.
"'The government has bought two planes worth Rs 16,000 crore… the cane arrears of the farmers in the country stand at Rs 15,000 crore… the farmers could have been paid their entire dues with that kind of money,'' Priyanka said while addressing another 'kisan mahasabha' in Bijnor district on Monday.
She said that the prime minister had ''betrayed the trust'' of the people by not fulfilling the promises he had made to them during the past two Lok Sabha elections.
''The people of the country had elected Modiji twice as they believed his promises would bring good days but what happened to those promises… Modiji has broken that trust,'' Priyanka said, while claiming that the man who travels almost the entire world has no time to travel a few kilometres to hear the grievances of farmers staging dharna for almost over two months.
The Congress leader also recited a couplet to make a direct attack on the prime minister. ''Bhagwan ka sauda karta hai, insan ki keemat kya jane, jo ganne ki keemat de na saka, woh jaan ki keemat kya jane,'' which translates to "Those who sell the gods, will never realise the value of the human beings… someone who failed to pay the cane arrears, will not understand the value of life.
Priyanka made repeated references to the new farm laws and said that they would sound the death knell of the MSP (minimum support price) and encourage hoarding.
In the earlier kisan mahasabha at Saharanpur also, Priyanka had sharply criticised the prime minister for calling the agitating farmers 'terrorists'' and had said that his heart ''beats only for the billionaires''.
It was the second kisan panchayat addressed by the Congress leader in the past few days.
"The three agricultural laws enacted by the Central government are monster-like and want to kill farmers," she alleged, adding that the laws would be abolished if her party came to power at the Centre.
"If voted to power, the Congress will scrap these laws. Farmers will get the MSP. Laws will be made to help you, not oppress you," she said.