Hardselling UPA’s ‘game changer’ Food Security Act, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday sought to strike an emotional chord with ‘aam aadmi’ and tribals, recalling how Sonia Gandhi was in tears at not being able to cast her vote when the measure was passed in Lok Sabha.
“I will not leave until the bill is passed. I have fought for years for the bill and will not leave until I press that button,” Rahul said, giving a blow-by-blow account at an election rally of his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s illness the day the epoch-making legislation was passed.
“When I took her to hospital, she could hardly breathe and tears welled up in her eyes. She said Rahul, I fought for the bill for years, I wanted to press the button (to register her vote) but could not,” Rahul said,recounting his mother’s frustration.
“Now the bill has been passed. For the first time in India, nobody will go hungry. Your children will not go to sleep hungry. Dalits, adivasis, people of any caste or religion will not go hungry,” he said.
The bill aiming to provide cheap foodgrains to 82 crore people in the country, arguably the biggest programme in the world to fight hunger, was passed on August 26 after much delay.
Seeking to unseat BJP in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh after a decade, the Congress leader also attacked the state government for its “hollow” claims about development while lauding Congress-led UPA government for bringing crucial legislations for providing food security and land acquisition, a sensitive issue in mineral-rich Shahdol district which has a large tribal population.