Rajasthan Farmer's Dig At Rahul Gandhi With 'Aaloo Se Sona' Remark Leaves PM Modi In Splits | WATCH

A farmer from Rajasthan's Banswara drew a chuckle from Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he took an indirect jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's viral "aalu se sona" remark, during a public interaction

on Thursday.The exchange took place during PM Modi's interaction with beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme, an initiative aimed at promoting solar energy use in agriculture, from Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka."Main maanata hoon ki logon ne kaha ki aaloo se sona hoga. Aaloo se sona to nahin hua lekin hamaaree jameen se aapane sona hamen jaroor de diya (I believe that people said that potatoes will give gold. Potatoes did not give gold. But you gave us gold from our land)," the farmer said to the Prime Minister.The farmer's remark drew a loud laughter from the audience and a visible chuckle from PM Modi.The remark referred to Rahul Gandhi’s 2017 speech in Uttar Pradesh, in which he claimed that a machine could be built to turn potatoes into gold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE4v_1xMlxE

During the interaction, PM Modi praised the farmers of Banswara for embracing solar energy and becoming partners in the country’s green growth journey."Banswara ke kisaanon ne suraj ki roshni se apne khet ki takdeer badal di hai (the farmers of Banswara have changed the fate of their fields with the power of the sun)," he said.The PM-KUSUM scheme, PM Modi said, is helping farmers become not just food providers but also energy producers, by enabling them to sell surplus power to the grid.'Power Production Essential For any Country to Develop Rapidly in 21st Century'In Banswara, PM Modi laid foundation for a nuclear power project to be built at a cost of Rs 42,000 crore.At the function, he hit out at the erstwhile Congress government of ignoring the importance of electricity, saying increasing power production is necessary for any country to develop rapidly in the 21st century."Before 2014, there were 2.5 crore households in India that did not have electricity connection. Even after 70 years of Independence, electricity poles had not even been installed in 18,000 villages across the country."The Congress government did not pay any attention to the importance of electricity," Modi said while addressing a public meeting in this Rajasthan district on Thursday, where he laid foundation for a nuclear power project to be built at a cost of Rs 42,000 crore."Power cuts were frequent during Congress rule. It was considered a big deal if there was electricity for even four-five hours in the villages. People would congratulate each other when electricity came," Modi said."New industries could not be established (during Congress rule). In 2014, our government resolved to change this situation as electricity reached every village in the country, and life became easier for the people," he said.In the twenty-first century, any country that wants to develop rapidly must increase power production, he said.With inputs from PTI