Waive farmers’ loans as soon as possible, Rahul Gandhi tells PM Narendra Modi
NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi went to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modito waive farmers’ loans. What the PM gave his fierce opponent was a somewhat seismic suggestion, at least for these fractious times – that they should meet more regularly, PTI reported.
This surprising interaction came days after Rahul claimed he had information about ” the personal corruption of the PM+ ” – information that would cause a “political earthquake.”
The Congress leader had gone to meet the Prime Minister to urge him to waive farmers’ loans as soon as possible. Rahul told the PM that the cut in the import duty on wheat has worsened the situation for farmers,
“Removal of import duty on wheat is a devastating blow. The PM acknowledged that the situation of farmers is serious. On my urging that farmers’ loans should be waived, the PM didn’t say anything, he just listened,” Rahul told the media after his meeting with the PM.
Last week, the government scrapped the 10 percent import duty on wheat due to a rise in domestic wheat prices and over concerns there is a dip in buffer wheat stocks following two consecutive drought years. Just a few months ago the government had lowered this duty to 10 percent.
Earlier this week, senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said following thecut in import duty on wheat+ , foreign companies will dump cheap wheat in the country, which will affect farmers adversely.
Today, Rahul said the wheat import duty issue is exacerbating the problems farmers are already facing. Scores of farmers are killing themselves across the country and in Punjab, the situation is particularly dire, the Congress leader said.