Smriti Irani counters with Amethi: What had he done for farmers there?

TREASURY BENCHES hit back at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi with Union minister and BJP’s Amethi MP Smriti Irani leading the attack.

“A few hours ago, all the members of the House heard a gentleman make a speech building castles in the air, based on lies, without keeping in mind the sanctity of Parliament. He used expressions like “kaala kanoon (black laws),” Irani began her speech. “The gentleman didn’t want to talk about the Budget because he knew that the Budget was one that would make the country atmanirbhar.’’

Irani said she spoke in the Lok Sabha not as a minister but as the MP of Amethi. “What had he done for farmers in the constituency during his tenure? It is because of this that he lost. The Prime Minister believes that nobody in this country should go hungry and that is why free ration was supplied to 80 crore people for eight months – and the gentleman is astonished at how this was done, something his party never managed, which is why they are no longer in power,” she said.

Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, who spoke immediately after Gandhi, also targeted the Congress leader, accusing him of not being prepared for a Budget speech. “Why couldn’t the Congress government implement the Swaminathan committee report? What were the compulsions? Despite promising farm loan waivers if elected to power in Punjab and Rajasthan, Congress-led governments have forgotten about it,” he said. Thakur said the PM had already clarified the “intent and content” of the farm laws that Gandhi questioned. “Can any MP state which mandi has been closed?”