Back in action after 59-day sojourn, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday toiled hard to cultivate popularity for himself in the country’s food bowl — Punjab — by sweating it out in a general compartment of Sachkhand Express. To strike a chord with farmers to further accentuate Congress’ “pro-farmer stand”, the party vice-president spent Tuesday night at a farmers’ house in Khanna.
The Gandhi scion took the State party unit by surprise by making a sudden decision to visit Punjab’s mandis while opting to brave the April heat in a train. Rahul was accompanied by former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
During his first-ever train journey from Delhi to Ambala, on way to Sirhind and Khanna towns, Rahul interacted with fellow passengers, specially youngsters, and signed autographs.
“I was talking to people on the train. They told me that stocks were not being lifted in grain markets,” Rahul Gandhi told the media. Dressed in a brown T-shirt and jeans and sporting a stubble, Rahul got off at Ambala station around 4 pm, where he was welcomed by the State party chiefs from Punjab and Haryana — Partap Singh Bajwa and Ashok Tanwar respectively. From there he moved for the grains markets of Khanna and later Sirhind and Mandi Gobindgarh.
His visit comes at a time when the nation, including Punjab, is facing a spurt in suicide by farmers over growing losses due to unseasonal rain. Punjab farmers said they are aghast at Centre’s “apathetic attitude” by giving relaxation in procurement specifications to other States, and leaving it out, following recent rain and hailstorms.
Rahul, who had made his comeback by raising concerns over the alleged anti-farmer land Bill and attacking the BJP Government for “ignoring” farming community and favouring industrialists and rich people, continued with his tirade on Tuesday by interacting with agriculturists in his purported attempt to understand their problems.
Even as his political opponents have termed his Punjab visit as “political”, Rahul maintained that he wanted to see the condition of farmers “with my own eyes” after listening so much about their hardships.
“I have been told that the situation is very bad. So I want to see it with my own eyes…Those who provide grains to the country, food to the country, from them their land is being snatched. This is wrong and we will counter it,” said Rahul.
Rahul’s visit to Punjab is seen as a herald to the “Kisan Padyatra” that he had announced to undertake next month to reach out to farmers against the backdrop of the agrarian crisis across India.
Rahul plans to visit Khanna Mandi in Punjab where farmers are very agitated over the damage to their crops and Government authorities dragging their feet over giving requisite compensation.
During his visit, Rahul Gandhi visited Khanna and Mandi Gobindgarh grain markets and gave a patient hearing to the grievances of the farmers who have suffered damage to their crops due to unseasonal rain and also faced huge hardships for marketing of their produce.
Accompanied by Bajwa, Congress legislative Party leader Sunil Jakhar and State party affairs in-charge Shakeel Ahmed, Rahul listened to farmers, understanding their difficulties and assured to take up their issue and find solution.