Congress president Sonia Gandhi hit out at the Narendra Modi government for keeping in hold the construction of 60,000 km of Narmada canals.
AHMEDABAD: Addressing two more rallies on Tuesday at Idar in Sabarkantha and Gandhidham in Kutch, Congress president Sonia Gandhi hit out at the Narendra Modi government for keeping in hold the construction of 60,000 km of Narmada canals to carry Narmada water to farmers in far-flung areas of Gujarat.
Suspended BJP MLA Ramila Desai, who has been given a Congress ticket from Kheralu, made her debut Congress appearance at the rally before Sonia arrived. Senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela and Bharatsinh Solanki also addressed the crowds.
“People are thirsting for water to drink and irrigate. Just increasing the height of the dam does not ensure farmers will get water. To take Narmada water to farmers, canals have to be constructed, which the BJP has failed to do in five years,” she told an impressive gathering of farmers and labourers who had come to attend the rally from as far as Mehsana and Surendranagar.
The issue was strategically brought up in this parched area of north Gujarat where water is available at 1,000 feet. Largely untouched by industrialisation, majority of the populace here depends heavily on agricultural income. The area is the heartland of cotton farming and also known as the potato bowl of the state.
Because of the dependence on agriculture, power is another raw nerve, which Gandhi effectively exploited. Harping on the BJP’s false promise of giving 18-hour power supply, she said, “Farmers are given electricity for only three to five hours in a day. Why was the Congress’s system of horse power billing discontinued? Why farmers, who have spent lakhs of rupees constructing bore wells, do not get power to irrigate?”
Revisiting some beaten tracks, she said, “According to the BJP, there are no problems in Gujarat. But we know our problems. As per some latest reports, women are compelled to commit suicide in the state.
Women and children are unsafe. Development for them is only limited to their party and a few select industrialists, nothing for the common man.” She highlighted UPA schemes like NREGS, JNNURM, Tribal Act and other fund allocation for farmers.
Vaghela said, “Modi kept abusing ‘Mian’ Musharraf, but when Musharraf came to Agra, Advani hugged him like long-lost relatives and sung his praises in Karachi. BJP’s violence has killed several lives and put many more behind bars.
They are ruining the life of Gujarat’s youth by giving trishuls instead of computers. The time has come for parivartan (change). Usher in a new government in the new year.”
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