Demonetisation has hit farmers hard, says Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi urged the "suit-boot" Modi government to hear out farmers' grievances

New Delhi, Dec 14: Hours after launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today accused him of hitting the farmers hard by the demonetisation move and questioning their honesty.

He also urged the "suit-boot" Modi government to hear out farmers' grievances, think about their problems and waive off their loans.

Gandhi was speaking to reporters at the AICC headquarters after accepting 'maang patras' (demand representations) from over two crore farmers from Uttar Pradesh and another 34 lakh farmers from Punjab.

"The demonetisation decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hit farmers hard and has questioned their honesty. Indian farmers are honest. They do not possess black money and have hard earned income.

"We want that Narendra Modiji hears out the problems of farmers, waive off their loans, reduce their power bills to half and help them get remunerative price for their produce," he said.

The Congress leader said the Modi government recently removed the import duty on wheat and this has doubled the problems of farmers.

"We want that the 'suit boot' Modi government should think about farmers and waive off the loans of farmers," Gandhi said, adding that farmers not just from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab but across the country have made this demand.

He also said that due to demonetisation, farmers who need money for seeds and fertiliser do not have any money.

He said the three main demands of farmers includes waiving of their loans, reducing to half their power bills and remunerative prices for their produce. This is the second attack on Modi during the day, after he alleged that he has detailed information about the "personal corruption" involving the Prime Minister, while upping the ante further over cash ban.

While the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee handed over 2 crore 'Kisan Maang Patras' to the Congress Vice President, the Punjab unit handed over 34 lakh such representations.

Gandhi said Congress workers had collected these 'maang patras' after going house to house to each farmers and the same will be handed over to the government soon.

Asked who would hand these over to the Prime Minister, the Congress leader said the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad is working that out.

Many senior party leaders from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab were present on the occasion, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, Asha Kumari, Randeep Surjewala, Raj Babbar, Pramod Tiwari and Sanjay Singh.

PTI