NAGERCOIL: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi went all out to woo the fishing community, promising them a loan waiver similar to the farm loan waiver and also assured action on fisher people’s problems with the Lankan navy.
He interacted with members of the fishing community at the start of his three day tour on Tuesday night. Fisherpeople requested him to take immediate action against the captivity and indiscriminate killing of fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy. They also urged him to create a separate union ministry for fisheries and impose a ban on coastal sand mining by private companies.
Gandhi said he was aware of the plight of fishermen in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, and promised to solve all their problems including a loan waiver scheme similar to the farm loan waiver scheme. Regarding a separate ministry for fisheries, he said, “When the Congress comes to power with a full majority, it will allocate a separate ministry for the fisheries.”
Express had reported on Tuesday that Gandhi’s is trying to woo fisherpeople away from their traditional party, the AIADMK.
Later interacting with members of the youth Congress, he said “Now there exist two Indias, the rich and the poor. Poor India consists of fishermen, farmers and unorganised sector labourers, who never get a chance to excel in politics despite possessing tremendous talent.”
Then rather ironically he added, “Rich India comprises those living in metros, who though not endowed with talents, get into politics with the assistance of money and family influence. Bridging the gap between the poor and rich is the urgent need of the hour.”
He admitted that the Congress party was not a perfectly democratic organisation saying, “No political party, including the Congress, has perfect democracy within the organisation. Strengthening cooperation among party members at the grassroots level will help change this scenario and bring in a big change in Tamil Nadu in the near future.”