“The PM travels the world, but has not visited the home of even one farmer who committed suicide,” Mr Gandhi said from his car, as hundreds of people crowded to welcome the Congress vice-president to his parliamentary constituency.
Mr Gandhi – who has been touring parts of the country meeting the families of distressed farmers who have killed themselves – has repeatedly attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on what the Congress alleges are too many foreign tours.
In China on Saturday, PM Modi said, “I am criticised for travelling, for working hard. If working hard is a crime, I am prepared to commit that crime for 125 crore Indians. Every moment of my time is for the 125 crore people of India.”
PM Modi also said in his Shanghai speech that he has taken no vacation in his one year in office, seen as a jibe at Rahul Gandhi, who recently returned from a two-month sabbatical abroad.
This is Mr Gandhi’s first visit to Amethi since December 2014, and Mr Modi’s BJP has accused him of neglecting the Uttar Pradesh constituency that he has represented for over a decade.
The BJP’s Sambit Patra also alleged that Mr Gandhi was forced to plan his three-day visit to Amethi because union minister Smriti Irani visited it last week.
Mr Gandhi today also attacked the central government for scrapping a food park in Amethi saying, “It would have benefited many people, but the Modi government snatched it away. Not from me, but from farmers, workers, the weak.” He promised to “try and get it back.”
Since his return from his extended holiday, Mr Gandhi has taken on the Narendra Modi government over its land reforms, calling them “anti-farmer”. The campaign is seen as an effort to resurrect his party after the debilitating defeat it was dealt by the BJP in last year’s national elections.
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