Rahul cries foul over cancellation of Amethi food park project: But why did it take him a year?

Rahul Gandhi has learnt the art of how to use Zero Hour in Parliament to hit the headlines. On Thursday he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being vindictive in cancelling the construction of a Shaktiman Mega Food Park in Amethi, which according to him, affects the people of 10-12 districts of Uttar Pradesh. It is normal for MPs to use Zero Hour to raise developmental and other socio-economic issues relating to their respective parliamentary constituencies. But since this particular allegation concerned Rahul Gandhi and Amethi, which has for decades been the bastion of the Congress first family, it became the top political event of the day. [caption id=“attachment_2233878” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The problem, however, is that Rahul seems to have found out about the issue too late. Either that, or he seems to have really taken his time on deciding to bring it up. He was also selective with the facts. The in-principle approval for the M/s Shaktiman Mega Food Park Pvt Ltd, as a Special Purpose Vehicle was withdrawn way back in June 2014, immediately after UPA lost power at the centre. A Times of India report published last month had quoted NK Gayagi, director, Union ministry of food processing industries aas saying, “after giving ample opportunity to complete the necessary formalities for according final approval to the project, Inter Ministerial Approval Committee (IMAC) in its meeting held on 30-06-2014 decided to cancel the in-principal approval accorded to the project." The same news report said that ABNL (Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited), which was to execute construction of the food park had written to the UP State Industrial Development Corporation in November 2014, withdrawing its application to sublet land at Jagdishpur, in favour of the Food Park. There are conflicting claims over why the approval for the park was withdrawn. Home minister Rajnath Singh while responding to Rahul’s charge in Lok Sabha said that “the in-principle approval for this food park was given in 2010. I don’t want to go into the details of what happened there in the last three-four years. The information I so far have is that the perhaps the company which was supposed to build it has refused to do so. But since the matter has been raised by the honourable member I will have the facts checked. And Rahulji there is no question of us being vengeful.” While the Congress leaders are jubilant that Rahul has fired yet another salvo against PM Modi, they should also realise that their leader took his own sweet time in deciding to raise the issue which he claimed was so dear to his heart and concerned developmental work in his own constituency. His bringing the issue up almost a full year later, is not going to make the people in his constituency any happier. In the run up to the parliamentary elections, the construction of this mega food park was highlighted by Congress as one of Rahul Gandhi’s major achievements in the region. His sister Priyanka who was managing his campaign, would passionately speak about this project. In her public rallies she would cite this as an example to tell the voters that she saw a visionary in her brother. This didn’t really click with the voters, mainly because the food park project had not gone past drawing board stage, and nothing substantive happening at the proposed site, apart from them erecting a billboard. Secondly, the voters had too many other grievances. Rahul had earlier promised to make Amethi an agricultural hub for the entire region. The BJP for its part, fielded HRD minister Smriti Irani, who ran against Rahul in Amethi, to rebut his charges. “Amethi Food Park was announced in 2010 when Congress was in power. No steps was taken by Congress to make Amethi food park project a reality…The constituency where Congress has been ruling for so long, our workers attend to it when people need help”, Smriti said adding that when she was campaigning there people would often ask her why food park promised by Rahul was not coming up. While stressing on the need for setting up the food park and food processing units, Rahul began his speech in the Lok Sabha by narrating how a farmer told him that potatoes was sold at Rs two per Kg but potato chips sold at Rs 10 per packet: “Kisan ne humse pucha ki appa hame batayiye ki ye kya jadoo hota hai. Maine un Kisaon se pucha apko kya lagta hai. Kya karan karan hai…In a way this is a fight of farmers and labourers of 10-12 districts around Amethi in UP. Slowly, slowly this project took shape.” Interestingly, he narrated the same potato chips story when he laid the foundation stone for the Shaktiman mega food park. He had then said that this question by a farmer in Shravasti resulted in idea of setting up of that project. One of the main issues related to the withdrawal of in-principle approval was availability of contiguous land and supply of gas under an administered price mechanism. Rahul and his party is, incidentally opposed to Modi governmemnt’s land acquisition bill, which according to its statement of intent seeks to acquire land for developmental purposes in rural areas.