Charan Singh attacks the Congress (R)’s garibi hatao rhetoric, asks the government to refocus attention on issues of agricultural productivity and mounting debts

23 Feb 1972

In a note released to the press, Charan Singh continued leveling acerbic barbs at the government, notably Indira Gandhi’s pivot to the “gharibi hatao” rhetoric. Who is responsible for this poverty if not the Congress, he asks; the mounting foreign debts and lack of any serious investment in agricultural productivity bring us to this moment. Industrialisation, as it proceeds, serves the needs of only 5% of the population. While some heavy industries were no doubt necessary, the government was actively depriving rural handloom operators of their livelihood by letting textile industries be set up across UP. Despite its electoral lip-service, the Congress also allied itself with the mill-owners instead of liquidating their concentrated capital. Contrary to this, the BKD’s approach was said to be rational, as they believed unemployment can only end by way of agricultural productivity increasing. The same Indira Gandhi who makes tall claims of secularism was also bandying freely with communal and anti-national elements. UP continued to be a hotbed of political conflict.

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