Kalagi (Kalaburagi): Unimpressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “sympathy” for senior Congressman M. Mallikarjun Kharge for missing out on the CM’s post, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday called his remarks “an eyewash” aimed at winning over Dalits.
“Modiji doesn’t allow Khargeji to speak in the Lok Sabha and under Modi rule, Dalit student, Rohit Vemula ended his life. The atrocities on Dalits are increasing in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and other Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states and yet Modiji doesn’t utter a word. The same man garlands Ambedkar’s statue to show that he is pro-Dalit,” he observed caustically, addressing a public meeting here.
Reiterating the Congress’s commitment to the development of the SCs and STs, he claimed that the Siddramaiah government spent as much as half the amount the Modi government spent on the welfare of these communities in the entire country in Karnataka alone.
Promising to waive off farm loans given by nationalised banks within 10 days of assuming power at the Centre in 2019, he recalled that Chief Minister’s request for waiving off farm loans by these and scheduled banks was turned down by the Prime Minister.
