If Billionaires’ Debt Can Be Waived Off, Why Not Of Others?: Rahul Gandhi

Bhopal, April 8: Appealing the people to vote for a party that ‘will take care of their overall welfare’, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today asked, if Rs 16 lakh crores of loans of a few billionaires could be waived off, why not those of farmers, Daltis, Adivasis, students, small traders and others.

Addressing two public rallies at Mandla and Shahdol, in support of the respective party candidates Omkar Singh Markam and Phundelal Singh Marko, today, Mr Gandhi accused the Prime Minister of working only for a select few billionaire friends while ignoring majority of the people of the country including the backwards, the Dalits, the Adivasis and the poor from the general castes.

He alleged that Prime Minister Modi had ensured that 22 billionaires owned the same wealth as 70 crore other Indians.

In a special message to the Adivasis, he said, the Congress government will protect their special status and also settle and restore their long pending claims about land within one year.

Talking in detail about the party manifesto, the former Congress president said, it will bring revolutionary changes in the lives of people across the country.

Paying special attention to the poor, Mr Gandhi said, one woman in every poor family will receive Rs one lakh every year. This, he pointed out, means that there will be no poor family left in India whose income will be less than Rs one lakh per year.

Similarly, for the youth across the country, belonging to all castes, whether the BCs, the SCs, the STs and the general castes, will get a guaranteed one-year apprenticeship with an assured income of Rs one lakh immediately after completing their degree or diploma. He said, the Congress government will bring in a law to guarantee Right to Apprenticeship, which will be provided in all private and public sector undertakings.

Besides, he said, the contractual system of jobs in government will be abolished and there will be regular appointments. He also announced that 30 lakh vacancies pending in various government departments will be filled up immediately on a regular basis.

Mr Gandhi said the Congress government will provide a legal guarantee for the MSP, which is a long pending demand of the farmers, which the Narendra Modi government has been refusing to do.

He also announced that the Congress government will waive off the debt of farmers. “If Rs 16 lakh crores debt of 20-25 billionaires can be waived off, why not that of farmers and others?” he asked, while adding, if the billionaires can get a waiver everyone should get it.

The former Congress president underlined the need for providing due and proportionate representation to people based on their population. He said, there are about 8 percent Adviasis in the country but their representation can be seen nowhere. He pointed out no Adivasi owned a big company or a media house or has any representation in the media. Similarly, he added, against their 8 percent population, their representation in the top echelons of power in the Modi government is just 0.1 percent. He said, of the 90 officers running the Modi government, there was just one Adivasi officer.

Assuring the Adivasis of the special relationship of the party with them, he said, the Congress calls them as “Adivasis”, while the BJP describes them as “Vanvasis”. He said, there was a deep thought behind the two words. He said Adivasi means the original owner of the land who should have first right over its resources like the land, the water and the forests. In stark contrast, he added, the Vanvasi means just someone living in the forests without any rights over its resources.

Mr Gandhi also referred to the video of a BJP leader urinating on the face of an Adivasi then making the video viral.

He assured that the Congress party will protect their rights since they are the original owners of the land and the country and should have first ownership rights over its resources.