Modi attacks Cong over farm loan waiver

In an apparent bid to counter Congress' attempt to win over the farmers by promising loan waivers, prime minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the grand old party of ''stealing'' the votes of the farmers through loan waivers promises while terming them a ''lollipop''.

Addressing a public meeting in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur town, about 75 kilometres from his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, Modi also asked the farmers to ''beware of'' such promises by the party in the forthcoming Parliamentary elections next year.

He referred to the loan waiver promises by Congress to the farmers in Karnataka and alleged that the state government waived loans of only 800 farmers.

''Congress made tall promises to the farmers to steal their votes but after securing their votes it betrayed them....in Karnataka only 800 farmers were benefitted....the police are now chasing the farmers to make them repay their loans....in 2009 also the Congress had made a similar promise but did not fulfill it,'' the prime minister said.

He said that the decisions, which were taken for gaining ''immediate political benefits'', could never be the ''long term solutions'' to the problems.

Modi asked the farmers to ''beware'' of such promises by the Congress in the next Lok Sabha polls. ''You (farmers) must question them on the loan waiver promises in the past....be careful....they will again make tall promises to steal your votes,'' he remarked.

The prime minister also said that the farmers were now facing the consequences of voting the Congress in power in MP, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh. ''The farmers there have to stand in queues for seeds and fertilisers and are being beaten by the police,'' he said.

''Your chowkidar (Modi) has been toiling hard to ensure that the thieves are apprehended.....we will put these thieves in their right place,'' he said.

Earlier Modi laid the foundation stone of a medical college in Ghazipur and released a postal stamp after Suheldev, who fought the foreign invaders in the 11th century and was revered among the members of 'Rajbhar' and 'Pasi' communities, who were in sizable numbers in the eastern UP districts.
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