Addressing his first Lok Sabha election rally in Haryana, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on May 22 launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he had “lost his reputation”, besides reiterating the party’s promises to scrap the Agniveer Scheme for recruitment to Armed forces and to waive farmers’ debt if voted to power.
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Addressing the Agniveer Scheme, Mr. Gandhi, at a rally in Charkhi Dadri in support of the party’s Bhiwani-Mahendragarh candidate Rao Dan Singh, said that Mr. Modi had for the first time converted India’s soldiers into labourers and created two kinds of martyrs — one will be those who will get the martyr’s status, pension and all facilities and the others, the sons of poor families, will not get this.
He added that it was a scheme by Mr. Modi’s prepared by the Prime Minister’s Office and not by the Army, adding that the INDIA bloc government would “throw it in the dustbin” after it was voted to power on June 4, the day of counting.
Promising to waive farmers’ debt and guarantee them Minimum Support Price for their crops, Mr. Gandhi said every time farmers asked Mr. Modi to waive their debt “as he had done for 22 billionaires”, the Prime Minister would argue that it would “spoil the farmers”. “But we are going to ‘spoil the farmers’ when we return to power and waive their debts not just once but again and again,” said Mr. Gandhi.
“We will form a commission and every time farmers need a debt waiver, the panel would let us know and we will do that,” said Mr. Gandhi, who on a day-long tour of the agrarian State addressed another rally in Sonipat and was slated to attend a programme in Panchkula later in the evening.
Mr. Gandhi alleged that the entire country knew that the government was being run by billionaire Gautam Adani and Mr. Modi, who had “sold off” airports and railway stations to the Adani Group, had “lost his reputation”. “The balloon has burst,” remarked Mr. Rahul.
The former Congress president reiterated that his government would take the historic step to transfer ₹8,500 every month into the bank accounts of poor families to revive the economy and create jobs. He also promised to increase the MGNREGS wages to ₹400 and double the wages for ASHAs and Anganwari workers, besides granting the “Right for First Job” to the fresh graduates.
Before ending his 30-minute speech, Mr. Gandhi held out a pocket edition of the Constitution of India, with an appeal to the people to protect it and alleging that the Bharatiya Janta Party was today openly saying that it would end the Constitution and the reservation.
All 10 Lok Sabha seats from Haryana will poll in the sixth phase of the elections on May 25.
