Rahul Gandhi pans Modi govt's 'anti-farmer' policies

Congress Vice President undertakes 15 km long padayatra in Telangana, where several farmers committed suicide

Taking forward the Congress' agitation against the NDA "anti- farmer policies" and its land bill Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the Modi government for doing little to help farmers battling the agrarian crisis. Gandhi undertook a 15 km-long padayatra in Telangana, in regions where several farmers committed suicide. Gandhi had in the past fortnight made similar visists to Vidarbha in Maharashtra and in Punjab.

Addressing a meeting today, Gandhi said, "When unseasonal rains came and when there was hailstorm, Modi did nothing. The Mini-Modi in Telangana also did nothing". He was referring to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao as Mini Modi.

The main Opposition Congress, TDP and the BJP allege that hundreds of farmers have committed suicide due to agrarian distress in Telangana since the TRS Government assumed office in June last, a charge rejected by the state administration.

Making it a point to raise the NDA Land bill, which the Congress has been agaittaing against both within and outside Parliament, Gandhi said, "If land is taken from you, it will be taken without asking you (for your consent). There will be no social audit." "If no work starts even after five years, 10 years, 15 years and 50 years (of taking the land from farmers), you will not get your land back."

Recalling the many promises made by Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP in the run up the elections, Gandhi said that Modi had promised a lot of things to farmers like remunerative price to the farm produce and a loan waiver, "but neither the Centre did it, nor the state government."

This was Gandhi's first visit to the new state of Telangana, after it was carved out of Andhra Pradesh by then Congress led UPA.