Congress will fight for tea-garden workers: Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Vowing to fight for their rights, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds 'chai pa charcha' but does not "talk or care" about the tea producing workers who are "languishing" in poverty.

Gandhi questioned the country's model of development saying it has space for talks on bullet trains but leaves out the struggle of the marginalised, who give their "sweat and blood".

"It's sad that the Prime Minister talks about 'chai pe charcha' but does not talk or care about those who provide that tea or whose tea he consumes. Congress party and I will fight for them," Gandhi said, addressing a protest rally at Jantar Mantar over the status tea garden workers in West Bengal.

Gandhi told the workers, who are on a dharna here over alleged deaths in tea plantations, that the UPA government had brought in laws like the Food Security Act, MNREGA aimed at including all sections of the society, including the middle class and the poor, in the development story.

"There is a lot of talk on development, of changing the country, of bullet trains, but not of people who give their sweat and blood for the nation. I want that there are talks about the hardships, hunger and future of the tea workers as well," Gandhi said.

Gandhi said he was apprised of the travails of the workers and would like to join them in their dharna. He urged the Centre and West Bengal to come to the workers' aid as "we don't want a country where our labourers are dying of hunger and have no future."