Modi in Jharkhand: Farmers vote bank for Congress, food providers for BJP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday laid the foundation stone of various development projects in Jharkhand’s Palamu and addressed a public gathering there. During his address, the prime minister launched a blistering attack against the Congress over the issue of farmers. Modi accused the Congress party of misleading farmers in the name of loan waivers. "There wouldn’t have been a need for farmers to take loans had the previous Congress governments completed the projects that were meant to benefit farmers. First, they forced farmers to take loans, now they’re misleading them in the name of loan waivers," Modi said.

The prime minister said that for the Congress party treated, farmers are just the vote bank but for the BJP, they are “ann daata” (food providers). “For Congress, farmers are only the vote bank, but for us, they are the food providers. This is the difference between the Congress and the BJP,” he said.

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The prime minister claimed that his government was moving forward towards making the farmers strong for the bright future of the country. "We are moving forward towards making the country’s farmers strong for the country’s bright future. We have been working for the farmers and the country as their service is our religion. We have been empowering the farmer by creating a new system from the middle to the market," he said.

Modi said that the schemes of the previous governments which were named after their leaders no longer exist and that is why believed in working rather than indulging in the fights for the names of schemes.

"We didn’t make Narendra Modi Awas Yojana, we didn’t make Namo Awas Yojana, we didn’t make Raghubar Das (Jharkhand CM) Awas Yojana, we made Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana so that the next prime minister can take the work forward," he added.

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Earlier, the prime minister laid the foundation stone of various development projects, including the Rs 2,391.36 crore Mandal dam, that will provide irrigation to 19,604-hectare area in Palamu and Garhwa districts.