‘Na khaunga, na khane doonga’ means starvation, CM Siddu tells PM Modi

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday trained his guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India dropping to rank 111 in the global hunger index in a list of 125 countries.

India had ranked 107 in 2022 and has seen its ranking drop four spots this year. The CM laid into Modi, mocking him for his slogan ‘na khaunga, na khane doonga’ (won’t usurp, nor let others).

Siddramaiah claimed the slogan had turned literal and starved socio-economically vulnerable people in society.

“Very unfortunate and saddening to see India's dismal performance in addressing Hunger issues. 111 - is India's rank in the global hunger index. Who has to be blamed for this? Prime Muter Narendra Modi or Vote Hunter Narendra Modi,” Siddaramaiah said.

“It is time to recollect Narendra Modi’s popular slogan 'Na Khaunga, Na Khane Dunga'. Nobody thought it meant that he will ma ke people starve. The Narendra Modi government even denied rice to implement Anna Bhagya 2.0 in Karnataka,” he added, referring to Food Corporation of India (FCI) approving the sale of 13,819.485 metric tonnes (MT) of rice to Karnataka back on June 9.

However, the Centre on June 13 wrote to FCI ordering them to stop the sale of grains to states under Open Market Sale Scheme (OMMS) - Domestic scheme. The CM pointed out that Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, Nigeria, Congo and other underdeveloped nations were higher up on the Hunger Index than India.

“This is a clear indication of the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer under the Narendra Modi government,” he added.

Siddaramaiah argued that food security had been better under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) era from 2004 to 2014.