The ruling Congress party’s promise to pay ₹3,200 for every quintal of paddy to farmers in poll-bound Chhattisgarh is just the “beginning”, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday, assuring voters that the amount would be hiked further.
Addressing a poll rally in Ambikapur, the constituency of Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo in the tribal belt of Sarguja, Mr. Gandhi also alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party did not want tribals to “dream big” and was thus turning them away from English medium school education.
“We have announced that you will get ₹3,200 per quintal [of paddy], you can write it down. Five years [ago], I had said ₹2,500, and now I am saying that the beginning will be with ₹3,200… the beginning. That means it will start from ₹3,200 and will keep on increasing. Whatever the farmer needs, we will do whatever we can,” he said.
