Rahul blows MNREGS trumpet in Bundelkhand

Blaming the past governments for the current plight of Bundelkhand region, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged state minister and senior BSP leader Nassemuddin Siddiqui had given the tractors to his sons, which were meant for farmers and sent by the Centre. Addressing a public meeting at Lalitpur, Rahul Gandhi said that when he visited Bundelkhand two years ago, he saw the plight of the people here.

"I took a delegation to the prime minister who immediately gave a package for this area. Some months later when I came here again, I was told that the money (meant for you) had not reached you because the ‘elephant’ in Lucknow had eaten it all up," he said.

Attacking the BJP, he said that if its leaders had bothered to visit Bundelkhand and see the situation here, they would have felt ashamed for giving the slogan ‘India Shining’. He further said that parties like SP and BSP, which sought votes on caste and community basis, are concerned only with 10% of the population, whereas the Congress is inclusive and works for all sections of the society. He said that when the Congress came to power in 2004, it gave the country the biggest employment scheme through MNREGS.

"When we gave MNREGS, Mayawati said it would not work. If you have to see what change MNREGS has brought, you should go to Congress-ruled states like Haryana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. MNREGS has changed the lives of farmers and labourers, checked migration of people and given them self-respect. In UP, it has not worked because the ‘elephant’ eats up all the money," he said.

The Congress leader said that the party had given to the people the right to education, right to information, right to employment and now right to food. "Mayawati has said that this scheme is a ‘natak’. "If we are giving you food, is that ‘natak’? It is not the Congress which is doing ‘natak’. It is the ‘elephant’ in Lucknow that does the ‘natak’ by eating up the money," he remarked.

He further said that the Samajwadi Party (SP) is advertising its ‘Umeed ki cycle’ (cycle of hope). "You gave them three chances and your hopes were punctured. You all remember how the recruitment for police jobs took place, how goons had entered police stations and how it became difficult for the common man to lodge an FIR in a police station," Rahul Gandhi said, reminding the people of the state of lawlessness that prevailed in UP during Samajwadi Party’s rule.

He also said that time has come for a change in Uttar Pradesh, so that it can regain its lost glory. "I have not come here to win elections, but to change the state. You must vote for the Congress, so that you have your own government — a government that understands you and your welfare and works for your future," he said. "You have given other parties 22 years. Now give us five years and see the changewe bring," Rahul said. Rahul was accompanied by union minister and Jhansi MP Pradeep Jain Aditya and senior Congress leader Janardhan Dwivedi.

From Lalitpur Rahul went to Mauranipur, Samthar, Chirgaon and then to Jhansi. He also mentioned that he throughout his student life he had spent in America and Australia but it is the villages of his country where he got the real wisdom of life. At one point during his programme, a boy waved a black flag towards Rahul with black money inscribed on the flag, which was ignored by the organisers. Tomorrow the Congress MP will be visiting Orai, Madhogarh, Kalpi, Rath and Mahoba.