Demonetisation, GST are BJP's weapons aimed at India's poor, small businessmen: Rahul Gandhi

Bellur (Karnataka): Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the BJP's policies of demonetisation, GST and farm laws are weapons aimed at India's poor and small businessmen.

Addressing a rally at the end of the 30th day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi said the BJP has destroyed businesses with its policies.

"Demonetisation and GST, both these are weapons. The farm laws that are applied here, is a weapon. These are not policies. These are weapons aimed at India's poor, at India's labourers, at India's small and medium businesses, and they are very effective weapons," he said.

Gandhi earlier met a young differently-abled person and walked with him.

The Congress leader alleged that the BJP was creating two Indias, one having the richest of the rich and the other with millions of poor.

"We started the Bharat Jodo Yatra because we see tremendous problems in our country. We see an ideology that is spreading hatred, anger and violence throughout our beautiful country. We see massive levels of unemployment in Karnataka and in the rest of the country, and we see a tsunami of price rise," he said, attacking the government.

Gandhi said he spoke to a few experts on education. He said a teacher asked him, "Why our way of life, our history, our culture, our language Kannada is under attack? Why is the glorious history of the people of Karnataka, the history of Basava ji being rubbed out from our text books? Which force is attacking Basava in Karnataka?" The Congress leader said he had been meeting farmers throughout the yatra. He said ragi farmers are not getting MSP even though they are supposed to.

Last year, the MSP was Rs 3,377 a quintal but farmers got only Rs 2,000, Gandhi claimed. This year, a restriction of five quintals an acre has been imposed, he added.

The former Congress chief also questioned why farmers were being charged GST.

He said money was disappearing from the common people's pockets and going to someone else.

"The second-richest man in the world is close to the prime minister of India. He never used to be the second-richest in the world. In fact, he was not even on the list. Suddenly, this man climbed the list of the world's hundred richest persons like a rocket," Gandhi said.

"Imagine, the second-richest man in the world is an Indian, and at the same time, he has gone up that list like a rocket, the money has come out of your pocket like a rocket," he added.

Sharing a picture of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka's Mandya and Hassan on Twitter, AICC general secretary in-charge for the state Randeep Surjewala said, "The Nation rises as one. We, the people, will defeat the politics of hate and fight decisively against price rise and unemployment."