Modi attacks Congress on farm loan waiver

Ghazipur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the Congress of misleading farmers on loan waivers, saying its governments had handed over ‘lollipops’ instead of what was promised. 

"Be wary of the Congress and its lies,” Modi said at a public meeting here after laying the foundation stone for a medical college and releasing a postal stamp on legendary king Suheldev.  On a day's visit to the Purvanchal region, his second trip to Uttar Pradesh this month, Modi said the Congress promised loan waivers to lakhs of farmers, but the JDS-Congress coalition that came to power did not deliver. "Lollipops were handed over.

The loan waiver was given to only 800 farmers," he claimed. He said the "lollipop company" had similarly "forgotten" the promises it made before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Modi's recent remarks on farm loans follow the waivers announced by the Congress governments in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh after this month's assembly polls. Congress president Rahul Gandhi recently said his party would not let Modi rest till he writes off farm loans across the country. 

Modi claimed that under the Congress rule, loans were given to people who were not eligible, while farmers were forced to go to private lenders and fall into debt traps.  The Prime Minister described himself again as a ‘chowkidar' (watchman) of the people, a term ridiculed by Congress president Rahul Gandhi. "This chowkidar of yours is toiling very hard day and night, and with honesty, to brighten your future and that of your children," he said. 

The PM's rally here is also being seen as an effort by the Bharatiya Janata Party to woo the Rajbhar community, which reveres Maharaja Suheldev. However, BJP ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party has distanced itself from the event. SBSP chief and Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar has claimed he was not invited in time. 

The Prime Minister listed several agriculture-related projects for the region. These include the International Rice Research Institute in Varanasi, cargo centres in Varanasi and Ghazipur, a fertilizer plant in Gorakhpur and the Bansagar irrigation project.