Ignored farmers, youths; knelt down before Pakistan: Congress

Jaipur: As the Modi government completes two years in office on Thursday, Congress leader RPN Singh attacked it for "ignoring" the interests of youths and farmers, "kneeling down" before Pakistan, and "playing" with internal security of the country.

Highlighting the "failure" of the government, the former Union minister told a press conference here, "PM Modi made tall promises in elections for youths and farmers but the result is disappointing."

On the foreign policy front, Singh said the government has "knelt down" before Pakistan which is a "failure".

"Pakistan's (investigation) team came to India to probe Pathankot Airbase attack but when it comes to NIA, it cannot go to a country from where the terrorists came," he said.

Singh also blamed the ruling BJP of "playing" with internal security of the country. "The BJP is trying to save and protect its people who were lodged in jail in connection with Malegaon blasts case and this is the biggest game the BJP is playing with the internal security of the country," he said.

Singh said Prime Minister Modi had promised two crore jobs in a year but opportunities are shrinking. "Only 1.34 lakh jobs were given. In eight sectors, 20,000 jobs have been cut between October 2015 and December 2015."

"48 per cent of people of the country earn livelihood in agriculture sector but the government is not concerned about them. Rs 1.14 lakh crore of bad debts of corporate sector were written off but if a farmer fails to return a loan of Rs 10,000, action is taken against him," he said.

He said industrial production, export, and area under cultivation have reduced. "The PM had promised farmers to raise MSP incorporating entire production cost and 50 per cent profit but the MSP has increased only by 4-6 per cent. 3,000 farmers, 1800 in Maharashtra alone, and 6,710 farm labourers have committed suicide," he claimed.

The former MoS Home also targeted the government for not passing on the benefit of the reduction in crude oil prices in the global market to the consumers and instead "saving Rs 2 lakh crore".

On the issue of the corruption, the Congress leader said, the Prime Minister is "quiet" on "Vyapam scam in MP, mines scam in Rajasthan and PDS scam in Chhattisgarh".

He also raised question on the gas pipeline project of the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GPSC) in Krishna Godavari Basin saying the PM had announced huge deposits of natural gas there but "now there is confusion over gas reserve".

The project involves expenditure Rs 20,000 crore and PM Modi should give a reply on this issue, he said.