New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the Congress of fooling farmers on loan waiver issue, saying the governments led by the grand old party had not fulfilled its promises in the past.
His criticism comes days after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said his party will not let Modi rest till he writes off farm loans across the country.
The recently elected Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have announced loan waiver schemes.
The prime minister, who was in Himachal Pradesh, said the Congress government that came to power in 2009 waived loans worth only Rs 60,000 crore after the party had promised to write off an amount of Rs 6 lakh crore.
He said a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General had found that lakhs of people who were not even farmers benefited from the then Congress government's loan waiver scheme.
PM Modi said the Congress had made similar promises of waiving farm loans before Assembly elections in Punjab and Haryana, but claimed the party had failed to deliver.
While farmers in Punjab got nothing, 800 farmers were given token amounts in Karnataka, he added.
Speaking in Hindi, Modi said the Congress had "made a fool" of the people through its loan waiver promises.
The Congress has challenged such claims in the past, insisting its governments have implemented the loan-waiver promises in the states and at the Centre.
Countering Rahul Gandhi's jibe that the watchman had himself turned into a thief, Modi said, Chowkidar choro ko chhorne ko tayar nahi (The watchman is not ready to let scamsters go).
Comments
0 comment