A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call for building 'Atmrbhar Bharat' (self-reliant India), senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said that a self-reliant economy will depend on whether farmers are self-reliant and working-class are self-sufficient.
"Nobody opposes self-reliance, but a self-reliant nation, a self-reliant economy will depend upon whether their farmers are reasonably self-reliant and self-sufficient, whether the working class is reasonably self-reliant and self-sufficient. Today, what we see before us is that farmers have been left to fend for themselves... Farmers across states have lost their produce for many reasons, procurement is slow and procurement price is not being given to everyone," Chidambaram, a former Finance Minister, said.
He added, "The PM-KISAN applies only to 8.2 crore landlord farmers. The tenant farmers and the landless agricultural labourers or the farmers have been left to fend for themselves. The working class, especially the poorest working class, has been left to fend for themselves. With these sections, which make up about 60-65 per cent of India's population are not reasonably self-reliant or self-sufficient, what is the use of this slogan and what is the use of this hashtag?"
He went on to say that these are "publicity oriented measures."
"How many hashtags has this government come up with in the last six years? If you count them, it will probably come to hundreds. This hashtag also will be forgotten in a couple of months and (then) there will be a new hashtag," Chidambaram said.
( With inputs from ANI )