Kicking off the Congress’s campaign for the assembly elections due later this year in Gujarat, senior leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday announced a raft of measures, including a farm loan waiver of up to ₹3 lakh, LPG cylinders at ₹500 and free power for farmers and household consumers (up to 300 units).
Addressing the party’s booth-level workers at a ‘Parivartan Sankalp Rally’ in Ahmedabad, Gandhi invoked the country’s first home minister, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, to hit out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Who was Sardar Patel and who did he fight for? You (BJP) have built his statues, but he was not just a human being, he was the voice of farmers of Gujarat and India. If you have read his speeches or gone through the pages of history, he has never uttered a word against farmers. The BJP works against the people for whom Patel fought for…the three agricultural laws, which were later repealed by the Centre, were meant to take away the rights of farmers,” he said.
