Kalaburagi: Prime Minister Narenda Modi came down hard on the Kumaraswamy government on Wednesday for "betraying" the farmers by failing to keep its promise on the loan waiver scheme and "scuttling" the benefits given to them by the Union government.
Addressing an election rally here, Mr Modi pointedly asked the people who had turned out to listen to him, whether Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had come to power promising waiver of loan within 24 hours of coming to power or not? On getting a loud, "yes, yes" in response from them, he asked, "has he lied to you or not? Has he betrayed you or not? Has he fooled the people or not?" On getting a strong "yes" from the crowd again, Mr Modi remarked, " This is the real mantra of the leaders, who want to form the mahamilavat ghatbandhan, chant the name of farmers to come to power, and forget them once they do. The time has come for the farmers to teach a proper lesson to khiladis (players) like Mr Kumaraswamy."
Accusing the state government of not taking the benefits of the Prime Minister's Kisan Nidhi Samman Yojana to the farmers, he said, "While the farmers in other parts of the country are getting the amounts credited by the Centre, the farmers in Karnataka are not. The remote-controlled CM in Karnataka has not fulfilled the formalities. He is the enemy of farmers and the culprit responsible for depriving them of benefits."
Mr Modi claimed the opposition was unhappy because he had ensured that the amount would be directly credited into the accounts of farmers and they would not get even five or ten rupees as kickback. " They are betraying the farming community. I want to sternly declare that if a wall is erected between us and the farmers, the farmers will demolish it," he asserted.
