‘Poverty won’t go away by banging plates…’: Rahul Gandhi | India News

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a dig at the Modi government and said that poverty will not be eradicated by “banging plates and switching lights on mobile phones.”
He made this remark referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal in 2020 to express gratitude towards those working tirelessly during the pandemic by clapping, beating steel plates, and ringing bells during the “Janata curfew” lockdown.
The Congress leader further targeted the Centre for the Agnipath scheme, claiming that it is an injustice to those belonging to the weaker sections of society.
“Poverty won’t go away by banging plates. Neither will it go away by switching on the flashlights of mobile phones. He implemented Agniveer and calls himself a patriot. No patriot will implement this scheme. Out of 4 Agniveers, three of them will be sent back home and these three will definitely belong to poor and backward classes,” said Rahul Gandhi in Rae Bareli.
The Agnipath scheme, announced by the Centre in June 2022, seeks to recruit soldiers for a four-year period, with a provision to retain 25 percent of them in regular service. Those recruited under the scheme are called ‘Agniveers’.
The Congress announced on May 3 that Rahul Gandhi will contest from the Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli, while the party loyalist KL Sharma will contest from Amethi.
Rahul Gandhi, who is currently a sitting MP in Kerala’s Wayanad, will seek a fresh term there alongside Rae Bareli. He represented Amethi from 2004 until 2019 and will face Congress defector and three-time MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh of BJP in Raebareli.
Raebareli constituency will go to the polls on May 20 in the fifth phase. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi won the constituency with 5,34,918 votes, while her closest rival, Dinesh Pratap Singh, gathered 3,67,740 votes.