On the second day of his 2500 km long 'Deoria se Dilli Kisan Yatra, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi continued his tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Gorakhpur and accused the latter of enjoying his life as the common man were reeling under a plethora of problems.
During a roadshow in Gorakhpur, the Congress leader said, ''Modijee should not run a suit-boot government, but should take care of the poor. Janta trast hai, Modiji mast hain.''
He pointed out that the PM had waived loans to the tune of Rs 1.10 lakh crore of big industrialists and rich people in the past two years but he conveniently forgot the plight of the farmers, carrying the burden of the country on their shoulders.
"If Modiji wants to waive loans of the rich, it is his decision as he is the PM and he can do so. But we have one demand. You should run a government for the poor. If you want to waive loans of big industrialists, then do it for the farmers as well. Don't forget the farmers. The farmers are in tears, they are committing suicides while industrialists are not," he told reporters in Gorakhpur.
"In our 'khaat sabha', the farmers told us that the government should take the burden off their shoulders. There is no burden on big industrialists while the farmers carry the burden of feeding the entire country. That is the sole objective of starting this yatra," Rahul said.
The Congress topgun said that Congress was not in power at the Centre and in the state and hence could not help the farmers directly.
"But we will raise their voice through agitation. Our only target is to put pressure on the PM and the NDA / BJP regime. We want farmers' loans to be waived, just as we waived Rs 70,000 crore during our tenure. We will travel from east UP to Delhi and talk to farmers tounderstand their problems and thentake on Modiji," he said.
Earlier Rahul Gandhi met Encephalitis patients at Baba Raghav Das Medical College of Gorakhpur. After the meeting, Rahul said that a permanent solution should be evolved to save the lives of hundreds of children who are afflicted by the epidemic. On the first day of the Yatra at Deoria on Tuesday, Gandhi had accused the Narendra Modi government of ignoring the farmers. On Wednesday, Rahul spoke at another `Khat Sabha’ in Khalilabad of Sant Kabir Nagar before reaching Basti where he will halt for the night.