Rahul raises farm loan waiver issue on Day 2 of UP yatra

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday again raised the issue of loan waiver for farmers.  The Amethi MP while interacting with farmers during his Kisan Mahayatra in Gorakhpur said the Narendra Modi government should run a government for the poor and look into the plight of the farmers who are ‘crying’.  

Making a strong case for loan waiver, Gandhi said, “In the past two years, Narendra Modi has waived loans of Rs 1.10 lakh crore. Not of small farmers but of big industrialists and rich people. If Modiji wants to waive loans of the rich, it is his decision. He is the Prime Minister and he can do so. We are not against it.”

“We have only one demand. You should not run a ‘suit-boot sarkar’. You should run a government for the poor. If you want to waive loans of big industrialists, then do it for farmers too. Don’t forget the farmer, because the farmer is crying, big industrialists are not,” he said.  He added that there are reports from various states that farmers are committing suicide due to scarcity of water, issues of fertiliser, loans, MSP and power.

“In our ‘khaat sabha’, the farmers told us that the government should take the burden on their shoulders. There is no burden on big industrialists, but the farmer is carrying the burden of the entire country on his shoulders. That is why we started this yatra,” Gandhi said.

The 46-year-old also visited Encephalitis ward at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur. He accused the Narendra Modi led central government for ‘ignoring’ the plight of people suffering from encephalitis in the eastern region of the state. “We (when UPA was in government) had sent funds for encephalitis treatment and control in Gorakhpur... People are now complaining that the funds being sent have been stopped… On the one hand, Modiji (lays foundation stone of AIIMS) and on the other, funds are stopped,” Gandhi said. 

Children continue to die of acute encephalitis syndrome and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in the area every year, he said. While criss crossing from Gorakhpur to Sant Kabir Nagar, Gandhi reiterated that he and Congress party, which is principal opposition party in Parliament, will raise the loan waiver matter through agitation. 

“Our only target is to put pressure on the Prime Minister and the NDA/BJP government and we want loans to be waived, just as we waived Rs 70,000 crore (during our tenure). We will put pressure on them. We will travel from here to Delhi and talk to farmers, listen to their problems and understand them and take them to Modiji,” Gandhi said.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will visit the famous Hanumangarhi Temple in Ayodhya on September 9. The Gandhi scion is on Uttar Pradesh election campaign wherein he will visit Faizabad parliamentary constituency wherein apart from visiting the temple which is dedicated to Lord Hanuman, Congress Vice President will do a 4.2 km long road show, door-to-door campaign wherein he will collect Kisan Maangpatras and meetings too.