The Congress on Monday targeted the Narendra Modi government over the farm laws and rising prices, with senior party leaders raising the issue on social media and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra describing inflation as a ‘Diwali gift’ from the government.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also slammed the Modi government for handing out “economic recession” to farmers as well as targeted it over airport privatisation.
“Farmers wanted a market but the Prime Minister handed them recession,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted, tagging a news report from poll-bound Bihar that claimed farmers had rejected the agricultural produce market committee (APMC) reforms introduced by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in 2006, and wanted more mandis (market) like Punjab and Haryana.
In a post on Twitter, former union minister Jairam Ramesh echoed the criticism, saying: “This is exactly what was pointed out in Parliament. The abolition of the APMC Act in Bihar in 2006 has NOT benefited farmers. And now the Modi Sarkar has replicated it all over the country. This is not farm reform, but really farm deform.”
Also read: New farms laws will weaken nation’s foundation, says Rahul Gandhi
Attacking the Nitish Kumar government for its performance, former Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram tweeted, “The best slogan I have heard about the performance of the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar: KHALI HAATH (empty hands), KHALI JEB (empty pocket), KHALI PET (empty stomach).”
In a series of tweets, Mr Chidambaram also targeted the Prime Minister for seeking votes in the name of Ram Mandir, Article 370 and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
“If you were a voter in Bihar what do they tell you about unemployment, jobs, new industries, MSP for food grains, crop insurance, flood relief, women’s safety etc. The answer is ZILCH — nothing. You are being asked to vote for NDA on a message that contains NOTHING,” he said in another tweet.
Taking to twitter, Ms. Vadra said while the BJP has given ‘frightful inflation, it has given away airports to its capitalist friends’.
In another tweet, she said that in the past one year, prices of potato has increased by 100 per cent and onions by over 50 per cent but the farmers have not got remunerative prices for their produce.
“BJP's Diwali gift to the people: frightful inflation. BJP’s gift to its capitalist friends: 6 airports,” she tweeted.
The reference to gifting away airports comes just days after the Airports Authority of India (AAI) handed over the Mangaluru airport to the Adani group on lease for a period of 50 years. Earlier this year, the union government had privatised six major airports -- Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati -- through competitive bids and the Adani group won the rights to run them.
Tagging news reports of the Adani group being handed over the Mangaluru and Lucknow airports, Mr. Gandhi tweeted,“There is development happening but only for select few capitalist friends”.
