Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi kicked off his ‘Deoria se Dilli Kisan Yatra’ with an assurance of bringing back smiles on the faces of farmers and villagers by waiving off loans, slashing power bills to half and ensuring Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their yield.
Rahul gave these assurances while addressing a congregation at the first Khat Sabha at Rudrapur town of the east UP district of Deoria.
“Modiji had made many promises like giving 50 per cent profit on the cost incurred on your crop but now he has forgotten everything. I even questioned the Prime Minister in Parliament. I also proposed to Modiji that he waive off farmers’ loan, slash their power bills to half and give you better MSP,” asserted Rahul while attacking the Prime Minister.
“I visited many States, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, UP and many more. I found that the farmers were suffering as they sold their pulses for Rs 40 per kg and the traders sold it for Rs 200,” he said.
“But Modiji had no answer to my point that middlemen were snatching the profits of the farmers," he added.
The Congress leader assured that he would take their fight forward as he had earlier done on issues of land acquisition, cane farmers and bringing in legislation which helped the farmers to get better prices for their land.
Attacking Modi further over the issue of farmers' loans, Rahul said that the PM was more concerned with his industrialist friends rather than having sympathy for the farmers.
Rs Rs Modiji can't waive of Rs 70,000 crore loans of farmers. But when it comes to industrialists, the PM waived off Rs 50,000 crores last year. This points towards the concern the PM has for you," said Rahul while terming the Union Government as "anti-farmer".
He also blamed both the Central as well as State Governments for doing nothing to prevent the closure of 17 sugar mills in the region which was once known as the "sugar bowl".
After Rahul's short speech, AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the farmers are the backbone of the country and no one could think of progress or development by compromising on issues related to farmers' welfare.
Earlier, after landing at Pachladi Village of Rudrapur, Rahul went to five houses on foot and interacted with the families about their problems.
"Rahul bhaiya asked me whether I had any loan, any pending power bill or any other problem," said an elated Hans Kumar, who has pending power bills to the tune of Rs 10,000. His brother Praduman told Rahul that he was yet to pay back a loan of Rs 35,000 that is still pending.
"After the death of my husband, I was looking after my disabled daughter and could not pay off the Rs 70,000 loan taken on Kisan credit card," revealed Vimla Devi, who offered dry fruits to Rahul.
Another local Bade lal Chaurasia sought Rahul's help claiming that he could not pay a loan worth Rs 2 lakh.
Rahul later took out a road show in Kushinagar and Deoria before ending his first day with another Khat Sabha there.