Bhopal: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday vowed to waive farm loans in Chhattisgarh, if his party won power in the state in the November assembly polls.
Addressing a farmers’ rally in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur, Mr Gandhi said the Congress governments in Punjab and Karnataka wrote off the debts of farmers as per the poll commitment made to the people of these states by his party.
“By waiving of farm loans, we will not do any favour to you. It is your right to be freed of loan burdens”, Mr Gandhi told the gathering. Chhattisgarh is going on assembly polls in two phases on November 12 and 20.
Mr Gandhi slammed the Centre for ‘not heeding to his request’ to waive loans of farmers in the country, saying, “Bank loans of 15 big industries have been written off, but the farmers have been deprived of such a measure”. He said the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government at the Centre had put aside farm loans worth Rs 70,000 crore.
Mr Gandhi outlined his party’s vision for upliftment of the farmers, saying that food processing units would be set up to generate demand for their produce besides providing employment to their children.
