Rahul Gandhi takes a dip with fishermen in Kollam; netizens ask if he's 'farming in sea'

During his visit to poll-bound Kerala, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took a dip with the fishermen in Kollam on Wednesday. The former Congress President is said to have dived into the sea along with some fishermen at the Thangassery beach where he spent about 10 minutes swimming before returning to the shore.

Thereafter, Rahul Gandhi is also said to have spent the morning helping the fishermen to pull out their nets from the ocean in a bid to understand the 'tribulations they face and the painstaking work they put in on a daily basis', as per the official Twitter handle of the party.

Netizens react 

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Rahul harps over Ministry of Fisheries

Since his visit to Puducherry prior to the embarrassing collapse of the Congress government, Rahul Gandhi has been advocating strongly for the rights of the fishermen, demanding the formation of a Ministry of Fisheries, (which is already in existence) to address the grievances of the 'farmers of the sea.'

"Everybody knows that farmers are the backbone of every country. I consider you to be farmers of the sea. I think to myself that if farmers of the land can have a ministry in Delhi then why can't the farmers of the sea have a ministry in Delhi," he said.

The Congress leader's statements have been fact-checked by several BJP leaders on multiple occasions. India has a Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying with Union Minister Giriraj Singh at the helm of affairs. Rahul Gandhi however, has refused to backtrack on his comments claiming that fishermen had no representation, vowing to set up a Ministry for Fisheries for them instead.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his bafflement over Rahul Gandhi's claims revealing that the budget for the Ministry had grown by nearly 80% since its inception under the BJP Government. “I was shocked. The current NDA government made the ministry in 2019 and the budget allocated for fisheries has grown more than 80% in two years," said PM Modi.

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Read: 'Need Independent Ministry Of Fisheries, Not Just A Department': Rahul Attempts Face-saver