The Hindu : National : Sibal questions Modi’s claim

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Sunday, Aug 19, 2007
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Sibal questions Modi’s claim

Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD: The Union Science and Technology Minister and convenor of the Congress national media committee, Kapil Sibal, on Saturday said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had no right to stay in office “even for a day” for doing “gross injustice” to the farmers of the State.

Talking to media persons here, Mr. Sibal quoted various official documents and figures to claim that the farmers were in dire economic straits and the small farmers were either selling off their land or committing suicide. Yet Mr. Modi was making “tall claims” that they were “wealthier” under the BJP dispensation and “buying Maruti cars.”

Challenging Mr. Modi to prove his figures wrong, Mr. Sibal said Gujarat was experiencing a “silent agricultural crisis” particularly because the infrastructure required to the fulfil the “lofty promises” made largely remained missing. As against the government’s claims, more than 85 per cent of the farmers continued to depend on the monsoon. Irregularities in power supply and its high cost, inadequate credit facilities and “apathy” of the regime had made their lives miserable.

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