Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Friday that the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY), under which his party has promised payout of Rs 72,000 annually to the poor upon coming to power, would jump-start the Indian economy.
"As soon as we form the government, 20% of the poorest Indians will get the money directly into their bank accounts...Rs3.60 lakh in five years. This is our surgical strike on poverty," the Congress president said at a public meeting in Bajipura village of Surat. The village falls under Bardoli Lok Sabha seat, from where Congress has fielded former minister Tushar Chaudhary against MP Prabhu Vasava.
Gandhi said that prime minister Narendra Modi had conducted surgical strikes on farmers, unemployed, and shopkeepers through demonetization and GST.
"There was a decline in consumption, which led to the closure of factories, and lakhs of jobs being lost. The money to be paid under NYAY will boost demand for products, which will lead to jobs being created, and it will jump-start India's economy," he said.
The Congress leader, who also addressed two rallies in the state on Thursday, said that unlike Modi, who had failed to deliver on the promise of Achhe Din, his party would fulfil its promises. He pointed out to the farm loan waivers in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Karnataka, where the Congress is in power. "Narendra Modi gave a waiver of loans of Rs 3.50 lakh crore to corporates, but does not have money to waive off farmers loans. We waived off farmers' loans within days of coming to power," he said.
Gandhi also said that his party would come out with a separate budget for farmers .
Taking a jibe at the prime minister, Gandhi said that he was chowkidar only for the rich, and not for farmers, youth, and women. He criticised the PM for the Rafale scam, saying he had stolen Rs 30,000 crore from people. Gandhi also slammed the Modi government for GST, saying "We will remove the Gabbar Singh Tax introduced by Modi government within six months, and give GST to you."
Jibe at PM
Rahul also criticised Modi for failure to create jobs for youths, and claimed that lakhs had lost their jobs in the wake of note ban and GST
