UP farmers flee with Rahul Gandhi’s cots after speech

Farmers ran away with hundreds of colourful string cots or “khats” neatly laid out in a field in eastern UP’s Deoria district for Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s much-touted reach-out programme in the poll-bound state.

As soon as Mr Gandhi finished his speech at his first Khat Sabha, chaos ensued as farmers scurried around to pick up and dash off with the cots. Soon the narrow alleys around Dudhnath Baba Mandir Maidan in Rudrapur were swamped with villagers gingerly carrying cots on their shoulders and heads while an amused Mr Gandhi was seen smiling. Some used bicycles and motorbikes to take home the loot even as local Congress leaders tried to stop them but were pushed aside.

While some reports said the farmers walked off with 5,000 cots, others put the number at 2,000. A villager said, “Kya hai ki, Rahulji ne hi diya hai (It’s been given to us by Rahulji).”

Congress election strategist Prashant Kishor’s brainchild, hundreds of Khat Sabhas are planned along Mr Gandhi’s 2,500-km-long Kisaan Yatra covering 233 assembly constituencies. Elections are likely in UP in February-March next year, and Congress is desperate to reversing its 27-year exile from power in the state.

Congress leaders were quick to deflect criticism, saying attacking the party on the issue would boomerang as these khats held importance in villages. “Whoever tries to belittle the issue will do injustice to the poor. Certain people in this country steal thousands of crores of rupees, but when a few villagers take home innocuous cots, all hell breaks loose,” Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal said. Congress had arranged 10,000 cots for the entire campaign. They had been brought in from Bihar and other states.

Earlier, Mr Gandhi said how the UPA government had waived loans and implemented schemes like MNREGA, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi had forgotten farmers across the country.

Mr Gandhi reached Rudrapur in a chopper and launched the party s door-to-door campaign to collect Kisan Mangpatras (charter of farmers demands).