Farmers asking for MSP, youth want jobs, but no one listening: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP-led Centre on Thursday, 11 April, saying farmers are asking for a minimum support price (MSP) for their crops, youngsters are seeking employment, women want relief from inflation, but no one is listening.

The upcoming Lok Sabha polls are about protecting the country's Constitution and democracy, the former Congress chief said. "It is an election of the backwards, Dalits, tribals and poor people in the general category," he said, addressing a rally in Rajasthan's Bikaner.

Gandhi said the bank accounts of the Congress have been frozen.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre has taken money from big industrialists through electoral bonds, he claimed, adding that the upcoming election is a battle between the country's poor people and 22-25 billionaires.

"Farmers are saying give us MSP, youngsters are saying give us employment, women are saying save us from inflation, but no one is listening," Gandhi said at the rally organised in support of Congress candidates Govind Ram Meghwal from Bikaner and Kuldeep Indora from Ganganagar in the Lok Sabha polls.

He said the two biggest issues in the country right now are unemployment and inflation, but these are not being raised by the media.

Gandhi highlighted the promises made by the Congress in its Lok Sabha poll manifesto and said all of those will be honoured as soon as the party comes to power.

He claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has waived the loans of 15-20 industrialists. "That money could have been used to pay MGNREGA wages for 24 years," Gandhi said.

He also said farmers are paying taxes for the first time in India's history.