Next Time Rahul Gandhi Comes Here He Will Get 27, Say Irate UP Villagers

Uttar Pradesh: Mocking the Planning Commission's poverty figures, people of Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region would give Congress leader Rahul Gandhi 27 instead of a 'chatni-roti' meal if he comes here, NGO workers and villagers said in Banda.

Gandhi visited Bundelkhand's Banda district in September 2009 and stayed overnight at the home of Bhagwat Prajapati in Nehri village who died due to poverty. He sympathised with Prajapati's family and ate 'chatni-roti' with them.

But village residents now said Gandhi would not be offered the poor man's food any more.

Prajapati's nephew Lala Prajapati said he did not expect Gandhi to visit their house again, but if he did then "I am going to give him 27 so that he could fight hunger".

According to the Planning Commission, people whose daily consumption of goods and services exceed 27.20 in villages and 33.33 in cities are not poor.

Lala Prajapati, who is the head of the village, said: "The last time Gandhi spent the night with us, we spent 23 on his 'chatni-roti', and that too wasn't a full meal."

Puswa Raidas, a hand cart puller from Banda city, said: "For my five-member family, we spend 150-175 daily on rations."

"If people like me are to be considered well-off, then all Congress leaders' names should be enlisted in the below poverty line (BPL) or the Antodaya ration scheme," he said.

Shiv Kumar Mishra, an activist associated with NGOs Right to Food and Human Rights Law Network working in the region, said: "The Planning Commission's yardstick for determining poverty-stricken people in villages and cities is absurd."