Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow to inaugurate two expressways and addressed a public rally at Baghpat in Western Uttar Pradesh, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday alleged that the Prime Minister ignored the plight of the protesting sugarcane farmers and was busy taking credit for projects initiated by the United Progressive Alliance regime.
Mr. Gandhi’s tweet also mentioned Udayveer Singh — a 55-year old farmer — who died on Saturday at the Baraut tehsil office, during a protest against non-payment of sugarcane dues and the increase in power tariffs.
Mocks U.P. roadshow
“U.P.’s sugarcane farmers are thinking that as the Prime Minister’s roadshow went past their fields to claim credit for UPA projects, why did he not pay attention to them? Unfortunately farmers like Udayveer who had to give up his life fighting for their rights can’t even expect such a thing,” the Congress president tweeted.
At a press conference, party spokesperson and Bihar in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil said, “During the the U.P. election campaign, he had promised that sugarcane farmers would get their entire dues in 14 days. Now it is not 14 days but over 14 months and the dues to the farmers have only increased.”
“When the BJP came to power, the dues were to the tune of ₹5,500 crore but now they are over ₹12,000 crore,” he said.
‘PM gave no sympathies’
“The place where Modi ji was speaking, was just a little distance from where Udayveer Singh passed away protesting against the policies of the BJP government. Why did he [the Prime Minister] not visit his family or, at least, express sympathies,” Mr. Gohil asked.
He said the Delhi-Meerut expressway had four sections and only one of them was now ready. Even land acquisition had not taken place in the last section.
“It is like holding someone else’s baby and claiming it as your own. As for the section inaugurated by Modi ji today [Sunday], former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram not only announced it in his Budget speech but even earmarked funds for it. And Dr. Manmohan Singh had set up a steering group to oversee it,” Mr. Gohil said.
