The Congress while strongly backing its national vice- president Rahul Gandhi’s yet another foreign trip amid agrarian distress and agitations all over has gone to the extent terming him as the biggest peasant leader of the country.
AICC spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Pl Punia, when asked about the proposed Italy trip of the Gandhi scion early next week to celebrate his 47th birthday with his ailing maternal grandmother, said that it was not going to have any bearing on the party prospects during ongoing agitations by the farm community in different States.
“Rahul Gandhi has done the most number of struggle for the farmers, be it in Maharashtra, Telangana, Bhatta Parsaul in UP or opposition of the original land acquisition Bill. He was among the first to reach Mandsaur in MP where farmers’ suicides are taking place. He is the only farmer leader the country has right now and farmers have no complaint against him,” said the leader on Wednesday.
Notably, it was Punia who only last week had speculated that elevation of Rahul Gandhi as president of the Congress party was imminent with the internal polls concluding by the end of 2017. Nevertheless the young leader has been attracting criticism for his leisure, especially at crucial moments for the party to reverse it’s disconnect with common masses.
Punia, to drive home his point, criticised the fast observed by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan to express solidarity with suicides and killings of the agitating farmers.
“What was the purpose behind his sitting on fastIJ What have they achieved for the farmersIJ They (the BJP) have never done anything for the farmers and when lathi charge was done on farmers in Bhatta Parsaul, it was Rahul Gandhi who went there,” said the MP.
Punia, at the same time, tried to downplay most of the schemes, economic decisions and policies for investment adopted by the Modi Government during its three years’ stay in power.
“Flagship schemes such as Digital India, NSDC, Smart City, Namami Gange, Housing for All and Make in India have proved a flop show. Economic growth has been reduced to only 6.5 per cent, FDI is coming down; NPA has reached 10 per cent of deposits; India is on 130th position on ‘ease of doing business’. Most of the projects are stranded. Prices of fuel have gone up in comparison of the one during the UPA regime despite crude oil prices coming down by half. Even then, they are celebrating the occasion as if they have done wonders! All their claims are nothing but a pile of lies,” claimed the leader who was flanked by JPCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat.
The party also hit the uses of investigating agencies such as CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department in the name of economic fraud and termed the raids conducted in this regard as ‘tax terrorism’. Punia, at the same time, denounced demonetisation and challenged the Government and RBI to answer how the step has helped the country.
“We are going to seek a white paper from the Government on these questions during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament and expose the tall claims made,” he said.