A day after participants at his inaugural Khaat Sabha decamped with cots, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi came to their defence on Wednesday. While farmers were called “thieves” for taking away the humble ‘charpoy’, industrialists like Vijay Mallya who did not repay huge bank loans escaped with the “defaulter” tag, he said.
He was addressing farmers after a road show here, as part of his 2,500-km mahayatra from Deoria to Delhi that started on Tuesday. He had earlier accused the government of allowing Vijay Mallya to “escape” abroad.
Later, at a Khaat Sabha in Sant Kabirnagar district, Mr. Gandhi said: “Our opponents see farmers as poor persons but I always feel that farmers are the real power of Hindustan.”
