Vowing to continue his fight against the misrule of the BJP at the Centre, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that his struggle would continue till PM Narendra Modi mends his way and foicusses on welfare of the people and the country.
“Where are the people who promised to bring about acche din (good days) in the country IJ They have thoroughly failed and instead bure din (bad days) have confronted the people,” he told reporters during a chat at Fursatganj on the first day of his two-day visit to his constituency - Amethi.
He was peeved at the Centre’s decision to do away with important people-oriented schemes like MGNREGA and Right to Education. “They are trying to convert education into a business, while only a select businessmen were enjoying acche din in the country,” he charged.
“No one is there to take care of farmers, while the common man is facing the brunt of failures of teh Union government. The common man is groaning under unprecedented price rise and the BJP misrule is responsible for it,” he said.
Addressing a few roadside meetings, including at Nigoha and Chatoh, Rahul Gandhi asked village heads to raise their voice against cancellation of food park and paper mill projects in Amethi. He said that the Congress wanted all welfare schemes of the Centre and the state to be implemented through gram pradhans. later, at a meeting of newly elected village heads at Ramsapur village in Chatoh block, Rahul said, “We could have changed the face of Amethi through the mega food park and Hindustan Paper Mill for which land was already given. These would have provided employment to 15,000-20,000 people. But the BJP relocated both projects to make the people suffer.”
“Had the food park come into being, 40 different factories would have been set up inside the campus which would have benefited farmers the most. But now all hopes have been dashed. We want the village heads to protest this and also against curtailment of their rights,” he said.
Noting that the Panchayati Raj system was the brainchild of his father and former PM, Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul said that Congress favoured more powers for village heads. He claimed various laws enacted by the previous Congress governments gave powers to village heads, unlike the legislations brought by the Modi government. “It tried thrice to finish the land acquisition law brought by the UPA government but every time the move was blocked by Congress,” he pointed out.
During his interaction with locals, a gram pradhan asked him about fixing educational qualification by Haryana government for contesting Panchayat polls. The Congress leader appeared to be in agreement with the Haryana giovernment decision and said that a village head should have understanding of the system to bring about development.
Gandhi also interacted with residents of Bahadurpur and Harchandpur villages, where peasants complained about scarcity of drinking water and other problems. Thereafter, the Congress vice-president held meeting with the newly elected pradhans at RS Inter College in Salon Assembly segment.
The visit of the Congress leader was marrd by an unpleasant event when rival Congress workers clashed after a car hit another. Two people were injured in the clash.