Sonia, Rahul target Modi govt, say poor need cash & not loans

The Congress on Thursday launched its online protest campaign against the Centre, highlighting the latter’s failure in tackling the migrant issue in the country. Raising the issue, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that the government must provide Rs 7,500 to every needy family for the next six months and a Rs 10,000 as immediate relief to them.

She also urged that migrants on the roads should be sent back to their destination without asking for any fares. In the video message for the party’s “Speak Up India” campaign, Sonia Gandhi said: “The Congress has decided to conduct this social campaign to raise the voice of India. We again urge the Central government to open the lock of the treasury and provide relief to the needy.

Make a cash payment of Rs 7,500 per month directly to every family for six months and give Rs 10,000 immediately.” The Congress president said that for the last two months, the whole country is going through a severe economic crisis of livelihood-employment due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “For the first time since independence, everyone saw the pain of millions of labourers who were forced to walk for hundreds of thousands of kilometres barefoot, hungry and thirsty, without medicine and means. Every heart across this country saw their plight and pain, perhaps not the government,” she said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi too came out on the digital platform to protest and said that people of the country are not in need of loans from the government; rather, they want direct cash transfer. Rahul also said that work under MGNREGA should be increased to 200 days. “The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act should be run not for 100 days but 200 days in a year,” he said. Meanwhile, as part of the online campaign, Rahul Gandhi also tweeted: “It is time for every Indian to stand together and speak up in one voice. For our brothers and sisters struggling for survival.”