Ready to stop freebies to poor if freebies to corporate giants are stopped, says Rahul Gandhi

The Congress is ready to stop the freebies given to poor people if the freebies to corporate giants are also stopped, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said.

While interacting with the IT fraternity at Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, an IT professional asked Congress leaders why most political parties are still talking about freebies, such as giving ₹2,000 to voters to survive or 4 kg of sugar or rice to the poor.

“Even 80 years after independence, if we are still talking about giving freebies to people in India, we are making them poorer and poorer. Is this economic development? When will India become a developed country?” he asked.

Replying to the question, Mr. Gandhi said: “What about the freebies to Mr. Adani or Mr. Ambani? Let’s discuss those first. What about the huge amounts of land given to them? Why don’t we discuss that? If we are ready to stop those freebies, we will stop the freebies to the common man,” he said.

“You are worried about freebies when a poor person requests or receives them, but you do not see them as freebies when they are given to corporates like .Adani or Ambani. You were not asking when we are going to stop the freebies to Adani or Ambani. Five or seven big businesses in India including Adani and Ambani receive far more freebies, not 10 times, or 50 times, or 100 times, but thousands of times more than what poor people get in India. I would be more happy to remove all freebies for poor people, but then you must also remove all freebies given to these corporates,” he said.

After the interaction programme, Mr. Gandhi also announced five guarantee schemes that would be implemented if the UDF comes to power in the Kerala assembly polls, including free bus travel for all women, monthly assistance of ₹1,000 to college-going girl students, and welfare pensions of ₹3,000 for people per month, among other things. He announced these while inaugurating the valedictory function of the Congress-led UDF’s month-long ‘Puthuyuga Yatra’ at Thiruvananthapuram.