Rahul takes swipe at PM, says visit Punjab too

Rahul Gandhi’s post-sabbatical proletarianisation nettled the treasury benches in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday as he launched one more broadside against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on farmers’ woes.

The Congress vice-president raised the issue in Parliament a day after he boarded a train to assess the impact of tardy wheat procurement in the grain markets of Khanna and Gobindgarh in Punjab. During Zero Hour, he rose to caustically suggest to the Prime Minister that he should find time between his various foreign trips to visit the suffering farmers in Punjab.

“Again his (PM’s) tour is on the cards… He is in India for sometime. He should visit Punjab and he will know first hand what is happening to farmers,” Rahul said, triggering uproar in the treasury benches. BJP members were heard reminding Rahul of his almost two-month-long holiday abroad.

Smiling and sparring with the agitated ruling party MPs, he took yet another swipe at the PM, this time on his Make in India slogan.

“When there was hailstorm, the government did not help. State governments used to give bonus, farmers tolerated its non-payment. Farmers were lathi-charged when they asked for fertilizer. Now their produce is not being lifted from mandis . The government says ‘Make in India’. I ask you, are the farmers not making in India?” he said.

Not cowards Rahul then referred to a remark made by Om Prakash Dhankar, Agriculture Minister in the BJP-led Haryana government. Dhankar has maintained that suicide is illegal and prohibited and those who commit it are “cowards”.

“While farmers in the mandis are crying, the Haryana Agriculture Minister is saying farmers committing suicide are cowards,” Rahul said amid cries of “shame, shame” from the opposition benches.

The speech was part of series of public statements by the Congress leader, in which he has labelled the government as “pro-rich” and “anti-farmer”. The drive started with a Congress rally in Delhi earlier this month, where both Rahul and party president Sonia Gandhi attacked the Centre for its alleged antipathy towards the farmer.

Subsequently, Rahul has continued with the offensive, labelling the government as a “suit-boot ki sarkar (a party for the rich)” in Parliament. He is simultaneously projecting himself as a champion for farmers’ rights, visiting grain markets in Punjab and planning a nationwide march on the issue.

The BJP has so far dismissed Rahul’s public posturing as a “PR stunt”. But the party and its alliance MPs were at the belligerent best on Wednesday, continuously interrupting his speech and making references to his foreign jaunts and holidays.

Rahul was equally combative, dismissively referring to the government as “your government”, which made Speaker Sumitra Mahajan caution him: “Don’t keep saying ‘your government’. You can say ‘this government’.”

Whose government? But Rahul, not relenting, asserted: “Yes, you can say ‘your government’ or ‘my government’ but this is certainly not a government for the farmers.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Speaker allowed Food Processing Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal to respond.

“Where were you when farmers’ produce was being damaged in rains and hailstorms? You were away holidaying and have come back now to catch up with the farmers by boarding a train to Punjab. The Punjab government has lifted a majority of the farm produce already.

“You want to resurrect yourself? You should go to your constituency. Go to Amethi,” she said.

Paswan responds While the Congress and Trinamool Congress were still objecting to Kaur’s response, the BJP MPs shouted back, mocking at Rahul.

In the din, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that Food Minister Ramvilas Paswan was ready to respond. “You have made your accusations… Now have the patience to listen. But if you only want to politicise the matter, it’s a different matter altogether,” he said.

Hitting back at Rahul, Paswan remarked that he was seeking to project himself as a crusader of farmers’ cause without doing anything much for their welfare.

“ Ungli kaatkar shaheed banane chale hain (trying to become a martyr by cutting a finger),” Paswan said to drive home his point.