Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday made a blistering attack on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah for snatching away farmers’ lands to benefit industrialists.
At a rally in Bhuj-Kutch, Rahul promised justice (Nyay) to farmers in protecting their land rights and providing them adequate compensation for their land. “In UPA era, we had brought Land Acquisition Law to protect your land rights. We had made a provision for compensation that is four-fold higher than the market value. But all BJP-ruled States ignored it and deprived the farmers of adequate compensation. As you know, most corruption occurs in land acquisition. To top it all, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah snatched land from farmers and gave it to their industrialist friends,” Rahul told the gathering of farmers, fishermen and traders.
Rahul is holding a two-day campaign starting Thursday in Gujarat, the home State of the Prime Minister and the BJP chief.
Earlier in the day he toured Saurashtra, where he addressed a public rally at Vanthali in Junagadh district. He made a strong pitch against the ruling party and the government for meting out injustice to entrepreneurs, women, farmers, labourers, youth and small traders.
“The BJP and Prime Minister want two Hindustan, one for the big industrialists and the other for the poor and farmers. We don't want two Hindustan. When there is one flag, then there should be one Hindustan,” he said.
‘No jail for loan defaults’
To the farmers, Rahul made an appeal to vote for Congress to get rid of the fear of land grab.
“Those businessmen, who got thousands of crores in loan and never repaid, fled the country. But if a farmer defaults on a loan of ₹20,000, they are jailed. Under the Congress rule, this will not happen. Farmers will not be put in jail for defaulting on loan,” he told the gathering amid cheers.
Even as the Congress president listed out his priorities and plans from the party's manifesto, he also underlined the injustice under the current regime and promised justice under the Congress rule.
“We only promise what we can deliver. We don’t want to give you an illusion and false promises,” Rahul added.
Rahul will have a night-halt in Gujarat on Thursday and is scheduled to address a rally in Tapi district in South Gujarat.
The State goes to the polls in the third phase on April 23, and the campaigning will end on Sunday evening.