Congress will give minimum income guarantee if voted to power: Rahul Gandhi

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has said that his party would guarantee minimum income for all the poor of the country if it formed the government at the Centre after the 2019 elections. At the same time, he took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government at the Centre on the issue of farmers’ loans.

Invoking the Green revolution of the 1960s, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress had done many historic things in the past and that it was going to do another historic thing if it came to power in 2019. He was speaking at a farmers’ rally at Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

“Congress laid the foundation of the Green Revolution. We worked on food security. We brought in the Milk revolution, the telecom revolution,” Gandhi said.

Listing out the various revolutions that took place in the country including the White Revolution, the telecom revolution, Rahul Gandhi said that his party would provide minimum income to the poor of the country.

We cannot build a new India while millions of our brothers & sisters suffer the scourge of poverty.

If voted to power in 2019, the Congress is committed to a Minimum Income Guarantee for every poor person, to help eradicate poverty & hunger.

This is our vision & our promise.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 28, 2019

“Once we win the 2019 elections, we have decided to give minimum income guarantee to all the poor of the country. This will be done for the first time by Congress government in 2019,” he said.

Rahul further accused PM Modi and the ruling BJP of trying to create two Indias , “One India is of the Rafale scam, Anil Ambani, Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and the other of the poor farmers”.

Attacking the BJP government at the Centre and the prime minister, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the PM and his government had no money to waive off the farmers’s loans, but had money to give to a handful of industrialists.

“When we were in the Opposition in Chhattisgarh, we spoke about farmers and asked the BJP government to waive the farmers’ loans, we would be told that there is no money. When we asked for the same in Madhya Pradesh, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government would say there is no money. In Rajasthan also we got the same answer. In Delhi, PM Modi says Indian government has no money to waive farm loans. But you have enough money to give to 15 major industrialists,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“The watchman of India does not have Rs 6,000 crore for the farmers, but has Rs 30,000 crore for Anil Ambani,” Gandhi said referring to the Rafale deal.

We had promised that whatever happens, we’ll waive off farmers’ loans in 10 days. and we did that. I told you it will be done in 10 days, but I told chief minister Bhupesh Baghel to do it in 2 days. He did it in one day. What the BJP leaders couldn’t do in 15 years, we did in 24 hours,” Gandhi said.

First Published: Jan 28, 2019 17:36 IST