'Climate change has taken place, Azad has become BJP's loyal soldier': Congress

Azad ended his five-decade association with the Congress last month, saying the party was comprehensively destroyed and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi.
Former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad during the release of book 'Moon of the Saffron Fields', written by Padma Shri Awardee Pran Kishore (unseen), in New Delhi. (Photo | PTI)
Former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad during the release of book 'Moon of the Saffron Fields', written by Padma Shri Awardee Pran Kishore (unseen), in New Delhi. (Photo | PTI)

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday took a swipe at Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the party recently, saying "climate change" has taken place and he has become a "loyal soldier" of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh tagged a tweet of a video clip of Azad, in which the former Congress leader is heard saying that he opposes the government's policies but does not abuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi like Rahul Gandhi.

"Climate change ho gaya hai aur ab yeh janab BJP ke wafadaar sipahi ban gaye hain (climate change has taken place and this gentleman has become a loyal soldier of the BJP)," Ramesh tweeted.

Azad ended his five-decade association with the Congress last month, saying the party was comprehensively destroyed and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing" its entire consultative mechanism.

The Congress had slammed Azad, alleging that his DNA had been "Modi-fied".

The opposition party had also linked his resignation to the end of his Rajya Sabha tenure.

The Congress slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday over his remarks at the world dairy summit, saying the "white revolution" was entirely because of Tribhuvandas Patel, V Kurien and the great cooperative institutions they created.

Speaking after inaugurating the International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit (IDF WDS) 2022 on Monday, Modi had said since 2014, "our government has worked relentlessly to enhance the potential of India's dairy sector".

"Today, its result is visible in terms of milk production as well as the increased income of farmers. In 2014, India produced 146 million tonnes of milk. Now, it has increased to 210 million tonnes. That is, an increase of about 44 per cent," the prime minister had said.

"Jagadguru of Jhoot is now claiming to have made India the world's largest milk producer, which it became in 1998," Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet, in an apparent reference to Modi's remarks at the summit.

"The White Revolution was entirely because of Tribhuvandas Patel, Dr.V. Kurien and the great cooperative institutions they created," the former Union minister added.

In his remarks at the summit, Modi had said milk production is growing at the rate of 2 per cent in the world, whereas in India, its growth rate is more than 6 per cent.

"The per capita availability of milk in India is much higher than the world average. In the last three-four years, our government has directly transferred about Rs 2 lakh crore to the bank accounts of small farmers," he had said.

A large part of this amount was credited to the bank accounts of the farmers associated with the dairy sector, he had said.

Due to the hard work of small farmers and their livestock, India is currently the largest milk-producing country in the world, the prime minister had said.

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