NDA neglecting farmers: Sonia

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 25. The Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, today accused the BJP-led coalition at the Centre of being clueless about running the Government. ``Inko to sarkar chalane ki tameez hi nahi hai (They don't have a clue about running a government),'' she told a large farmers' rally here.

At the rally, attended by most of Congress Chief Ministers and senior leaders, speaker after speaker went hammer and tongs at the Government accusing it of pursuing anti-farmer policies. The big guns who spoke, including the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Mr. Digvijay Singh and Mr. Ashok Gehlot, Mr. Madhavrao Scindia, Mr. Balram Jhakar and Mr. Bhajan Lal, contrasted the farmers' relative prosperity during Congress rule and the ``pitiable'' conditions now, exemplified by the mass suicides. ``This has never happened before,'' said Mr. Singh.

The Congress president lambasted the National Democratic Alliance Government of driving farmers to suicide through neglect and ill- advised policies. Her party would carry on the fight both inside and outside Parliament. ``It is the duty of every Congressman to oppose the anti-farmer policies of this government.''

Alleging that the Government had turned a blind eye to imports in this vital sector, Ms. Gandhi demanded heavy import duty on agricultural products. ``Everything else can wait but not the farmers,'' she said and promised to wage a relentless battle to bring back the smile of farmers' faces.

Accusing the Government of misleading the farmers and the country, she recalled how the BJP, during the elections, had promised high renumerative prices for farm produce. ``The situation is absolutely the opposite and the farmers' debts have increased.''

BALCO deal

Turning to the controversial sale of Government equity in the Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO), she wanted to know why the profit-making company was being sold for a pittance. ``What is the need to disinvest government equity in companies making a profit?''

Mr. Scindia said, ``the BJP's slogan out of power was BJP ka kehna saaf kisano kar karza maaf, but in Government it had changed to BJP ka kehna saaf kisan ka patta saaf (They talk of writing off farmers' debts, but farmers themselves have been written off)''. Mr. Singh said Congress workers would go from village to village and fight the battle for the farmers. Mr. Jhakar, referring to the spate of suicides, said, ``(Khaliyan ab samshan ghat bangya hai) farmlands have been turned into burial grounds.''

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