Rahul gandhi promises farm loan waiver in gujarat

Rahul Gandhi promises farm loan waiver in Gujarat

Rahul Gandhi promises farm loan waiver in Gujarat on Business Standard. Congress leader accused the Prime Minister of waiving loans worth Rs 1.25 lakh cr 'of his five-ten industrialist friends'

Elections Congress Vice-President (VP) Rahul Gandhi on Thursday promised loan waiver to farmers of Gujarat in Gujarat Polls rally and free education in government aided colleges if the Congress party were to form the government. He said a policy to waive farm debt would be made within 10 days of the Congress forming the government. He also promised a 80% reduction in fees of unaided colleges.

Campaigning in the Patidar-dominated Amreli constituency, the Congress leader accused the Prime Minister of waiving loans worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore “of his five-ten industrialist friends", but was unwilling to waive debt of farmers. In its election campaign in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh earlier this year, the Congress party had promised farm-loan waiver in the two states.

The Congress VP tweeted that the debt on Gujarat was Rs 9,183 crore in 1995, which increased to Rs 2,41,000 crore in 2017. “This means each Gujarati is under the debt of Rs 37,000,” he said. This was the second of his ‘a question a day’ to the PM. The Congress also

presented a critique of the Gujarat’s power sector.

In a counter to Rahul Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said the Gujarat state gross domestic product (GDP) was Rs 71,886 crore in 1995, which increase to Rs 10.35 lakh crore in 2016-17.

“This is productive investment generating great returns on investment. As an NPA (nonperforming asset) of the Congress you won’t understand,” Rao said.

During an interaction with traders in the evening, Rahul Gandhi responded to the controversy around his religious persuasion. He said his family, his grandmother as well as he, were worshippers of Lord Shiva, but religion for them was a private matter. The Congress leader said his family didn’t believe in doing politics over religion.

In Amreli, Rahul Gandhi spoke about the “plight” of farmers. He said Narmada waters were being diverted to benefit industrialists. He said Chief Minister Vijay Rupani runs on remote

control, and BJP chief Amit Shah can change the channel whenever he wishes.

In a related development, Tata Motors countered Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that the Gujarat government extended undue favours of Rs 33,000 crore to the company for its car manufacturing facility at Sanand. Tata Motors said it got Rs 584.8 crore as loan, and not grant.

READ MORE