Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said his idea for a minimum income guarantee scheme for the poorest of poor came from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Rs 15 lakh promise' made ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Gandhi said the Congress' poll promise for the ambitious 'Nyay' (Nyuntam Aay Yojna) under which Rs 72,000 will be deposited each year in the bank accounts of 20 per cent of the country's poorest is 'historic' and claimed that the prime minister looks 'shaken' ever since the announcement was made on Monday.
Accusing Modi of helping certain industrialists, Gandhi said he protects the rich while refraining from helping out the debt-ridden farmers, adding “this 'chowkidar' is a thief”.
On the contrary, Gandhi said his party bats for the poor, the weaker sections and the farmers.
"The 2019 polls are a fight between two ideologies. On one hand are the BJP, the RSS and Narendra Modi and on the other is the Congress," he said.
Gandhi was on a day's visit to Haryana to be part of Congress state unit's ongoing six-day lone “Parivartan Yatra”, which began from Gurugram earlier this week.
Gandhi said unlike the BJP his party keeps its promise and referred to 'Nyay' the Congress plans to introduce if it forms the government.
"He(Modi) promised putting Rs 15 lakh into every Indian's bank account. Did anyone get anything?" he said at a public meeting in Yamunanagar district's Jagadhri town.
"Truth is when our Government is formed we will put Rs 72,000 a year into the accounts of 20 per cent of the country's poorest. Modi spoke lies about putting Rs 15 lakh into every Indian's bank account, However, I felt that the idea about putting money into bank accounts of the poor was a right one if implemented with sincerity.
"I caught hold of this idea. I spoke to Congress party's thinktank and told them about Modi's Rs 15 lakh promise and said he did not fulfil it, instead what he did was to do injustice to farmers, hit small shopkeepers with demonetisation, and brought Gabbar Singh Tax (GST)," Gandhi said, adding he told the party's thinktank to come out with a scheme to benefit poor and they worked out the modalities in six months. -- PTI
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