Hitting out at his political rivals, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who did not help distressed people during the coronavirus lockdown, are now seeking votes from them.
Addressing an election rally at Bihariganj, from where veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav’s daughter Subhashini Yadav is contesting the assembly polls on a Congress seat. He also assailed the two NDA leaders over job creation.
Kumar had promised he would provide jobs to the youth and “change” Bihar, but he could not deliver, the Congress leader said.
“When youths today ask Kumar during his public meetings about the jobs he had promised, he threatens them, chases them away, and gets them thrashed,” Gandhi alleged.
He also raked up the issue of minimum support price for maize and paddy and said the money that the farmers should be getting is going to the middlemen.
He alleged that Prime Minister and chief minister Kumar did not help poor labourers and workers during the coronavirus lockdown. Instead, they got them lathicharged and are now asking for their votes.
“If the Prime Minister of India had any place for farmers and labourers in his heart, he would have died but not done what he did during the lockdown. Entire Bihar knows this,” he said.
He alleged that the PM through the three recently passed agricultural laws, has “cleared the way for new middlemen”.
“Not the smaller ones but the bigger ones ‑ Ambani and Adani. In 2006, mandis were destroyed here and now it is being done across the country,” Gandhi claimed.
He said prices of vegetables and other edible items are shooting up because of these new agricultural laws as the grains produced here are going to the “bigger godowns” and being sold at inflated rates.
Contrary to PM Modi’s arguments that the new farm laws have “freed” farmers, they have freed the millionaires.
Praising Sharad Yadav, Gandhi said the veteran leader taught him a lot and was in a way a “guru” to him.
Gandhi is scheduled to address another public meeting later in the day.
The former Congress president had addressed two public rallies in Bihar on Tuesday.
