PM Modi not waiving poor farmers' debt, giving money to industrialists, says Rahul Gandhi

On Friday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not waiving the debt of poor farmers, while giving money to industrialists and waving off corporate loans worth Rs 3.5 lakh crores.

He alleged that the PM-KISAN scheme launched by the Centre is nothing but an attempt to make mockery of poor farmers by doling out a paltry sum of Rs 6,000 annually.

"Prime Minister waived off debt amounting to Rs 3.5 lakh crore of 15 rich industrialists in the country in past five years including that of country's richest industrialist. Everyone knows his name. But when it comes to farmers, he cannot waive off a single rupee," said Rahul Gandhi.

Ahead of the upcoming elections for the Odisha State Assembly as well as the Lok Sabha, the Congress chief came down heavily on the Prime Minister. Over the Rafale deal, Gandhi alleged that reports in an English daily stated that the Prime Minister himself prepared a new contract in the fighter jet deal and held parallel negotiations.

"This is the truth," he said and alleged that France was told to give the job contract to Anil Ambani and not to HAL.

Gandhi further claimed that the Prime Minister makes tall claims about patriotism on one hand, but takes Rs 30,000 crore from IAF and hands it over to Anil Ambani. "The UPA government had decided to purchase 126 Rafale jets for Rs 526 crore, but the BJP-led government went for less number of aircraft at a high price of Rs 1,600 crore in order to dole out Rs 30,000 crore to Ambani," he said.

While pointing at the benefits given to Ambani and the missing Rafale files, he added that the delay was costing the Indian Air Force (IAF) heavily, whose pilots' lives had been endangered by Modi.

Gandhi covered several issues ranging from the farm distress to poverty, drugs, besides national issues like Rafael deal, increasing poverty, among others. Rahul Gandhi also attacked Modi for allegedly failing to honour promises he made five years back, such as two crore jobs each year and remunerative prices for farmers. Taking on the Naveen Patnaik government in the state, Gandhi said it was being run by four to five bureaucrats.

The Congress president promised if the party were voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, it would "try to pass the Women's Reservation Bill" for better representation of women in legislatures, provide financial assistance for marriage of poor women in the state and a widow pension of Rs 2,000 per month.

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