Patna: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and his family members came under attack from the BJP at a programme organised here on Thursday by the party farmers' wing.
In the words of the party's farmer's wing president Akhilesh Singh, the BJP had organised the Krishi Vikas Sammelan to create awareness among farmers about various welfare schemes the central and state governments were running for them.
Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi spoke at length about the various works, but did not forget to attack the Congress.
Radha Mohan took the lead. He said a young leader of the country, who is out on bail in a corruption case, is moving around asking questions to the central government. "What was he doing before Narendra Modi came to power? On which cot was he sleeping?" Radha Mohan asked. He also said nothing had been done from Independence till 1964 (when Nehru died) for farmers. "When Shastri ji became prime minister, he worked for the farmers, but he too didn't live for long."
According to Radha Mohan, after Shastri it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee who took steps for farmers' welfare. He said the Congress-led UPA government did nothing on this front even though a committee had recommended for neem coating of urea and for steps to improve the soil condition. He said 99 irrigation schemes were pending when the NDA came to power in 2014.
Radha Mohan then went on to speak at length about various welfare schemes the Narendra Modi government had introduced for farmers.
Sushil Modi said that with the Centre's help, Bihar would turn like Gujarat, where farmers get dedicated feeders for agriculture, reducing input cost and enhancing income.
Another Bihar minister, Nand Kishore Yadav, came up with comparative figures of the UPA and NDA regimes to buttress his claim that the Narendra Modi government was the one which cared for farmers. Agriculture minister Prem Kumar, tourism minister Pramod Kumar, BJP farmers' wing national in-charge Hridyanath Singh, too, addressed the participants.
