Chandigarh: Vowing to raise voice for farmers on every platform, Rahul Gandhi today said government should take into account their concerns and not just extend monetary assistance.
The Congress vice-president, who met farmers hit by unseasonal rains in Punjab and stayed here overnight after travelling by train to the NDA-ruled state, also took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking whether the farmers are not contributing to 'Make in India' by providing food to the entire country.
"I will raise the voice and pain suffered by farmers and atrocities on them on every platform," said Rahul, a day after BJP and its ally in Punjab Shiromani Akali Dal termed his visit as a "political drama" over the land bill.
"Is the work done by poor not Make in India," he asked, adding the farmers should be helped as they are the backbone of the country.
"No one works harder for the country than the farmers. Punjab farmers provide food to the entire country. I understood the pain of farmers and listened to their voice," he said.
He said not just monetary help but farmers' concern must be taken into account by the government.
On his visit to food grain markets in Punjab, he claimed it had a lot of impact on the government.
"I got an opportunity to understand the pain of farmers by meeting them yesterday," he said before leaving for Delhi.
Back from his sabbatical, Rahul is trying to make farmers his new political constituency starting with his Kisan rally in Delhi and later his speech in the Lok Sabha against Modi government's land acquisition bill.
He is likely to travel to Maharashtra today and undertake a 15-km, day-long padyatra in Amravati division of Vidarbha region in Maharashtra on April 30 to highlight the farmers' plight.
Maharashtra is one of the states that experienced severe agrarian crisis and the Amravati division in Vidarbha region has witnessed many farmer suicides this year.
Yesterday, Rahul visited the 'mandis' of Sirhind, Gobindgarh and Khanna, which houses the country's largest grain market.
