Achche din only for PM: Rahul sharpens attack against Modi on price rise

Intensifying his attack on the Modi government over price rise, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said ‘achhe din’ has come only for the prime minister and not the common man.

“The aam aadmi is groaning under unprecedented price rise. It is no achhe din (good times) for them. It is achhe din only for the prime minister,” he said on the first day of his two-day visit to his Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.

Rahul, who led the opposition attack against the National Democratic Alliance government within and outside Parliament, said only his party was fighting strongly against the Bharatiya Janata Party on the price front.

“BJP is responsible for the unprecedented price rise in the country,” he said, adding, “inflation is at its peak. Nothing has been done for farmers and the youth”.

Addressing a few roadside meetings, including at Nigoha and Chatoh, he asked village heads to raise their voice against cancellation of food park and paper mill projects in Amethi and said Congress wanted all welfare schemes of the Centre and the state to be implemented through gram pradhans.

Later, at a meeting of newly elected village heads at Ramsapur village in Chatoh block, Rahul said, “We could have changed the face of Amethi through mega food park and Hindustan Paper Mill and these projects would have provided employment to 15,000-20,000 people. Land was given for these projects, but BJP doesn’t want that a food park or paper mill is set up here.”

He said 40 different factories were to be set up in the food park, which would have benefited farmers the most, but all hopes have been dashed.

“We want the village heads to raise their voice against this. Besides, they should protest curtailment of their rights,” he said.

Noting that the modern panchayati raj system was the brainchild of his father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul said Congress favoured more powers for village heads.

He claimed various laws enacted by the previous Congress governments gave more powers to village heads, unlike the legislations brought by the Modi government.

The Congress leader alleged the Modi government thrice tried to finish the land acquisition law brought by the United Progressive Alliance government but every time the move was blocked by his party.

Rahul interacted with village heads on different issues, during which a gram pradhan asked him about the logic behind fixing minimum educational qualification by Haryana government for contesting panchayat elections.

The Congress leader appeared to be in agreement with the decision of Haryana’s BJP government when he said a village head should have some minimum educational qualification to bring about development of the village.

He also enquired about progress of MNREGA scheme, another pet project of the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government.

Earlier at Nigoha, Rahul said that during the Lok Sabha election campaign Modi had promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh in every person’s account after bringing back the black money stashed away abroad. “Has it been deposited?” he asked sarcastically.

Promising to carry on development work in his Lok Sabha constituency, he said, “We will complete development works in Amethi. We will fight unitedly as a single person cannot continue the struggle alone.”

There was minor trouble during Rahul’s visit when Congress workers clashed with each other after one car hit another. Two people were injured in the clash

Images: Rahul Gandhi with the village heads in Amethi. Photograph: @OfficeofRG/Twitter