PTI
ANANTAPUR, JULY 24
Indicating no let up on stalling Parliament, Rahul Gandhi today questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” and made it clear that it will not be allowed to function till External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and two BJP Chief Ministers resign.
The Congress Vice President also hit out at the NDA government over the contentious Land bill saying it is an “anti-farmer government” and declared that he would not let Modi “take away” farmers’ land easily.“Modi had said neither will he indulge in corruption nor will he allow anyone to do it. But right now he is not able to see anything---neither Vyapam, nor Vasundhara Raje and not even what has been done by Sushma Swaraj in his Cabinet,” said Gandhi, who is on a kisan padyatra of this parched region of Rayalaseema in Andhra Pradesh.
Recalling that Modi used to deliver speeches everyday during the Lok Sabha election campaign, Rahul said, “people are now asking why the person, who used to speak every day has gone silent.
“This question is in the mind of common man. The Prime Minister should say something. He is getting damaged by this (not speaking).”
In a clear indication that Congress will not allow any let up in its demand for the resignation Swaraj and Chief Ministers Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Chouhan, he said he has made it clear in Parliament that it will not function till the resignations do not happen.
On the land bill, he alleged that the NDA government is “anti-farmer government”.
“As I said earlier yesterday, Modi ji is concerned only with his 5-6 industrialist friends. They are not more than five or six, may be not even five.”
Referring to government’s move to amend the Land bill to give flexibility to states to frame their own laws in a bid to break the impasse in Parliament, he said the Prime Minister has understood that he cannot push farmers, after the agrarians showed their strength.
“We have not even showed 10 per cent of the strength of farmers of India. And the Prime Minister suddenly understood that he cannot push the farmers of this country,” he said.
Addressing a rally during his foot march, Rahul said, the unwritten promise that the Prime Minister did not tell the nation was that he has told his friends that he would take land away from the farmers.
“The Congress took a stand in Parliament and will not let the Prime Minister take away land of farmers that easily. The Congress and the farmers of this country decided to show a little bit of their power to the Prime Minister,” said Rahul who is on a 10 km-long ‘padayatra’ from a village in the district to highlight the issues faced by farmers and women Self-Help Groups, said.
The Congress Vice President also said the Prime Minister has changed his mind after the fight of farmers, which was backed by the Congress.
“The Congress fought for farmers. We fought with the Government and Prime Minister. And the Prime Minister and the government have changed their mind about the land bill,” he said, adding that the Congress was not scared of anybody. He also charged that the Prime Minister did not want to accord Special Status to Andhra Pradesh.
“The same way the Prime Minister wanted to take land away from the farmers, he wants to take Polavaram and Special Status away from people of this State,” he charged. The Congress leader also attacked Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu-led Government and opposition YSRCP for not “fighting” for Special Status for the State and Polavaram multi-purpose irrigation project.
“I can fully understand the intention of the Prime Minister. But, what I do not understand is the intention of the Chief Minister of this State and other party. I do not understand why these parties do not fight for special status. I do not understand why these two parties do not fight for Polavaram,” he added.
The Congress, he said, was fully committed to Special Status for Andhra Pradesh and the Polavaram project.
