Rahul Gandhi flays Modi for criticising rural job scheme

'PM will know of its importance if he discards his Rs 15-lakh suit and visits villages'

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday criticised the Narendra Modi government for saying the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) was ineffective.

He said Prime Minister Modi would understand the importance of the scheme only if he visited villages. “If he (Modi) comes to you, visits your village for two minutes, discards his Rs 15-lakh-suit, he will understand what benefits villagers have got from MGNREGS,” he said, referring to a suit Modi wore when US President Barack Obama visited India.

The Prime Minister would understand how the farmers’ children had benefited by the job guarantee scheme if he visited the villages, Gandhi said. “But he will not come to villages; he will go to America and Australia,” he said, adding that the (general) elections were over and Modi would now be seen only after five years. “I can write it down, he (Modi) will not come here before elections. When he comes, he will say ‘we have brought good days. We can bring more good days, so vote for us again’.”



Citing the example of a child reportedly dying of starvation in Chhattisgarh a few months ago, the Congress vice-president said the Prime Minister had said the scheme was of no use and keeping it alive was a wrong decision of the Congress government.

The Congress leader, on a two-day visit to Chhattisgarh, went on a seven-km march from Saradih to Dabhara in Janjgir-Champa district to interact with villagers who had lost land to projects.

The march started from Saradih, where one of the seven barrages on the Mahanadi would come up. The state government had inked memorandum of understanding for more than 34 power projects in the district, known as the largest irrigated district.



“They want your land and promise you development. They snatch the land of the poor, the farmer and the tribals, but not the rich... They claim they will give employment and development in return. Not even a single man or woman I spoke with said they have got jobs,” charged Gandhi.

Gandhi’s march culminated in Darba, where he addressed a public meeting. He stopped at two places and interacted with the villagers. “Why such a treatment to you; are you not Hindustani?” he asked displaced villagers.

Taking a dig at the proposal to have bullet trains, he said only people wearing a suit and a tie would be able to travel in such trains. “... there would be no room for farmers, tribals, labourers and poor.”

At Saradih, Gandhi talked to a 14-year-old boy who briefed him about the problems farmers face after giving away their land and the fear they have of submergence because of barrages. “A child could understand the seriousness of the problem but the chief minister (of Chhattisgarh) could not,” Gandhi said.

The BJP governments at the Centre and the state demand land, forests and habitats in the name of progress and development and promise jobs in return which never happens, he added.