Amethi food park: Rahul Gandhi attacks government, Union Minister hits back

Taking up the fight for mega food park in his Lok Sabha constituency Amethi, Rahul Gandhi marched through the dusty pathways to reach the site proposed for the unit and alleged that the project was cancelled by the Centre because of "politics of revenge".

On the other hand, Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Monday said that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi does not even know the exact place where the Food Park is to be set up in Amethi, adding that it took him ten months to realise that the project had been cancelled.

“Rahul Gandhi doesn’t even know the exact place where this Food Park is to be setup in Amethi. It took Rahul Gandhi ten months to realise that the Food Park project has been cancelled. When Rahul Gandhi had all the power, he did not do anything, then why is he against it now,” she told a press conference in New Delhi. 
Harsimrat Kaur had earlier said that the approval for the setting up of a mega food park at Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi district was cancelled due to the promoter company not fulfilling the formality of acquiring the requisite land in its name.

The Congress Vice President said scrapping of the project had "seriously hit" the farmers and that he had come here to expose the "bluff" of the Centre which has maintained that the responsibility for its cancellation lay with the promoter company and the previous UPA government. "Land had been allotted. Work was very much underway," said the 44-year-old Gandhi as he walked some two kilometers on dusty tracks to reach the site that had been identified for the proposed food park. "BJP wants to hurt me through this politics of revenge.

But in reality, the farmers are getting affected, not me. BJP is playing such politics in other states as well, like Punjab, Telangana, Maharashtra and Haryana, wherever farmers can be suppressed," Gandhi said amidst loud cheers from the gathered farmers. He said the food park would have benefitted farmers of 10 districts as they could directly send their produce to the processing units. Addressing a gathering of farmers in Mirzagarh village, Gandhi asserted that "we will not be cowed down and would pressure the government to get it (food park project) back". At a 'kisan panchayat' in Shankargarh area, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi "never went to the house of any farmer.

He does not know the pain of the farmers."  He alleged that "food park project has been snatched from us as per a well-planned conspiracy". He also visited some farms on his way where crops were damaged by untimely rains and hailstorms. "Our government is neither in the state nor in Centre but we (Congress) shall do all the best in the interest of public," the Congress leader said. 

Mocking at Modi's 'achche din' slogan, Gandhi asked people "are you feeling or enjoying any achchhe din?". He said the "one-year tenure of Modi government is a total failure" and added that 'achche din' "will not come even after the rest of four years". BJP hit back at Gandhi for his comments. "He is making news by visiting his own constituency because he does not go there. He should visit his constituency regularly. For the last 9-10 years, he has neglected his constituency," said BJP spokesman Nalin Kohli in Delhi. 

Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur had earlier said that the food park's promoter company had expressed inability to pursue the project in the absence of natural gas, which was denied to it by the government in December, 2012 when UPA was in power.

Kaur had said that in view of the inordinate delay by the promoter company in meeting the "pre-conditions for final approval, in-principle approval accorded to the project by the Ministry was cancelled". She had said that at a meeting in June last year to review the project's progress, the promoter company's representative had informed that without supply of gas at administered price, it would not "consider the project to be viable".

"In the absence of availability of gas at the administered price, the promoter company expressed its inability to pursue the project," the minister had said. Hitting back at Congress vice presient Rahul Gandhi for accusing the Narendra Modi government of engaging in "politics of revenge" over the cancelling of a mega food park in Amethi, BJP MP Anurag Thakur today said Rahul was "misleading" the people.

Thakur stated that the group, which wanted to make the food park, had opted out of the project in 2012-13 due to non-availability of gas, and Rahul was misleading the people on the issue. "The person (Rahul), who was in slumber for past five years and is not in the habit of doing his homework, is misleading the people on the food park matter. What was he doing for past few years, when all this happened?" Thakur, presient of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM), told PTI over phone from Ayodhya, where he had come to attend a party meet.

On the food park, Rahul, who was on a three-day tour to his constituency Amethi, had earlier said that BJP "wants to hurt me through this politics of revenge. But, in reality the farmers are getting affected, and not me." However, Thakur said Rahul was doing "cheap politics" and only misleading people against BJP government. He also accused the Congress of spreading lies on the Land Acquisition Bill, and said that farmers would get four-times higher compensation. "A lie has been spread against Land Acquisition Bill.

Congress is saying that every farmer has to give his land despite the fact that only 0.05 per cent land will be required. Also, we have hiked compensation of farmers by four times and making provision of giving jobs," Thakur said.

Stating that Congress has lost its base due to various social security and other schemes launched by the Modi government, Thakur said over 14 crore accounts had been opened under 'Jan Dhan scheme'. Besides this Atal pension and two insurance schemes are being launched to benefit people.

"All these works of BJP government has not gone well with Congress and it is now engaged in spreading canards. It (Congress) cannot see what we have done, but the common man is realising the change," he said.