Those who are shedding crocodile tears for farmers today should answer why they left irrigation projects incomplete across India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, in his continued attack on Congress.
His government aims to double farmers' income by 2022 and end the divide between the rich and the poor, he said on the second and final day of his eastern Uttar Pradesh tour.
"We visualises a New India that takes care of the sick, the poor, the children, the youth and the farmers," he said in Mirzapur. He dedicated a Rs 3400-crore irrigation project and said the Opposition delayed it for 40 years, leading to a 100-time cost escalation. Over 2 lakh farmers of UP, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar will benefit from the project, he said.
"Those who are doing politics in the name of farmers had no time to raise the minimum support price (MSP) of their produces. They sat on files. We raised the MSP by 1.5 times," he said.
He also cited an international report and said five crore people had come out of poverty in the last two years. "This was made possible only because of various welfare schemes launched by our government for the benefit of the poor, Dalits and backwards to increase their income and improve their lifestyle," he said.
This was a day after Modi said in eastern UP's Azamgarh that Congress president Rahul Gandhi was siding with Muslim men but not standing up for the rights of Muslim women. He accused the Opposition of being a hurdle to the passage of a Bill to abolish instant triple talaq.
BJP is trying to consolidate its support in UP where it suffered series of by-election defeats at the hands of a united Opposition. This is Modi's second visit to eastern UP in just over a fortnight.
The PM praised the BJP government in UP and said, "The eastern zone is being paid adequate attention for all-round development."
CM Yogi Adityanth said Congress ruled the country for 55 years but could not give an AIIMS to UP. "Since Independence, only 13 medical colleges could be set up in here. But in the last four years, Modi gave 13 medical colleges to the state," he said.
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