Congress General Secretary addressing an election rally in Samalkha(Haryana), 10th October 2009

Camp: Samalkha(Haryana)
Date: 10th October 2009
Time: 1:00 PM

Will send every member of Youth Congress to work in the villages: Rahul Gandhi

Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi while addressing an election rally in Samalkha(Haryana) criticized opposition parties for ignoring the poor, farmers and villagers. He said, “One of the Chief Ministers of NDA had said that the country did not need farmers; we have computers and IT. They get their food grown by farmers still they criticize them. However, we say that the farmers are the backbone of this country; that’s why we waived the loans worth Rs 60,000 crores. We provided mid-day meal in the government schools and all we did and do is for the welfare of the poor.”

Congress General Secretary said that the UPA government launched the biggest ever Employment Guarantee Scheme, NREGA, for the poor. “Because we felt that the previous NDA government had completely ignored the poor and farmers,” he said.

Talking about his visits to villages he said, “When I go to villages and stay at poor people’s houses, our opposition wonders why Rahul Gandhi is going to poor people’s house? They feel ashamed of it. Once a minister from England came to meet me in Delhi. He asked me where does India's strength lie. I said, if you want to understand the strength of India, you have to step out of Delhi, you have to go to villages and talk to poor people, farmers and women. I took him to a village in UP where he spoke to villagers, ate with them and spent a night there. On his way back to Delhi, he told me that he understood why India is making so much progress. But the next day I read in newspapers, senior BJP leaders criticizing me asking why am i showcasing the poverty of India to a foreigner. Basically, our opposition leaders are ashamed of the conditions under which poor people live and they don’t want to even talk about it.”

Congress General Secretary said, “Our opposition leaders feel ashamed in talking on poverty; while we want to find out the root cause of poverty and eliminate it” He further said, “During the campaign in last general election, our opposition talked about Pakistan, terrorism and Jinnah but they never talked about poverty. This word does not suit them.”
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