NEW DELHI: Slamming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his repeated gaffe of having no dedicated ministry to deal with the issues of fishermen, Union Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Giriraj Singh on Wednesday said it is Wayanad MP's well-thought strategy to mislead the people of the country.
"He (Rahul Gandhi) should know that there is a fisheries department for which an investment of Rs 20,050 cr has been made by the Centre. In 70 years, work that couldn't be done by your 'Nanaji' and others, has been done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the Minister told ANI.
"I believe that it's a planned strategy. On one hand, the brother is putting a rift between north and south and the sister is misleading the farmers. Rahul Gandhi's strategy is to mislead the fishermen. He is either conspiring to mislead the country or he does not have the sufficient knowledge," Singh added.
Days after wrongly claiming that there is no dedicated ministry to deal with the issues of fishermen, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday repeated his promise of forming a Central ministry dedicated to fishermen of India.
The Wayanad MP's comments came at an interaction with the fishing community in Kollam's Thangassery today.
"Just like our farmers farm the land, you farm the sea. Farmers have a Ministry in Delhi, you don't. No one speaks for you in Delhi. The first thing I would do is to have a ministry dedicated to the fishermen of India so that your issues can be defended and protected," said the Congress leader. He made a similar gaffe in Puducherry earlier this month. In Puducherry, Gandhi had demanded the setting up of a separate ministry for fisheries.
However, the Congress leader's comments came in for immediate rebuttal by Union Minister Giriraj Singh, who had also taken a swipe at Gandhi's ignorance and attempt to "spread misinformation".
"Rahul Gandhi is unaware that a separate ministry for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying was formed by the Prime Minister in 2019, adding that Gandhi can't come out of Italy," Singh had said.