Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of “snatching” adivasis’ land and reiterated that his party will work to protect the community’s rights, PTI reported.

“The Congress is the only party committed to safeguarding the land of adivasis,” Gandhi said at a rally in Bhawanipatna. “We will protect the rights of adivasis in Odisha and elsewhere.”

Gandhi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government and the Biju Janata Dal-led state government of failing to work for the benefit of Dalits, adivasis, farmers and the poor. He alleged that the two parties were working for the “benefit of their industrialist friends” while “neglecting” the marginalised.

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Gandhi alleged that while the two parties had waived loans worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore of 15 industrialists, they had not done the same for farmers. The Congress chief said that within two days of forming governments in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, his party had written off farm loans in these states.

Gandhi accused the “chowkidar” PM of being “corrupt” and claimed Patnaik was being “remote-controlled” by the Centre.

This was Gandhi’s second visit in 10 days to the state, where Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held together. Gandhi had addressed a rally in state capital Bhubaneswar on January 25.

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Modi is ‘Jumla raja’, says Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter on Wednesday to intensify his attack on the government on the issues of unemployment and farmer distress, labelling Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “jumla raja” (king of gimmicks) and his rule as “chaupat raj” (regime of ruin).

“Farmers do not get the right prices, the youth do not get the right jobs, in ‘jumla raja’s chaupat raj’, no hard working person gets respect,” Gandhi wrote in a tweet in Hindi. He attached a media report on the unemployment situation in Uttar Pradesh, claiming that youth with even PhD degrees are applying for class IV jobs.