Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi launched the “Kisan Samvad Yatra,” his outreach programme with farmers, in the villages of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

The Congress leader walked 6 kilometres and addressed three small public meetings in three adjacent villages. The party, through the outreach programme, is attempting to strike a chord with the farmers in a State that is a very crucial constituency for any political party. Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are due in 2017.

In Sikri Kalan village, an aggressive Mr. Gandhi mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for discriminating against farmers and labourers. “Have you ever seen Modi Ji taking a selfie with a farmer, a labourer or an unemployed person,” Mr. Gandhi asked the cheering crowd, which responded with a resounding “No.”

“When Narendra Modi is flying to England, here is Rahul Gandhi standing with you in your fields. I want to tell you one thing…. Congress party is with you and we will die fighting for you,” he told the crowd of farmers, labourers and women.

He also ridiculed the “Acche Din” campaign, saying it had become a joke. “During the Lok Sabha polls, Modi Ji took your votes after making lots of promises which he doesn’t even remember now. I want to remind him about Acche Din. When one talks about Acche Din, people laugh across the country,” said Mr. Gandhi.

“Acche Din will come only when farmers, labourers and the poor Dalits see good days. Only then will good days come for the Congress party too,” he said.

Reminding the people of the Rs. 70,000 crore loan waiver by the Congress-led UPA government, he alleged that banks had closed its doors to farmers during the Modi regime.

Meanwhile, the presence of Imran Masood, who was jailed in a case of hate speech against Narsendra Modi during the Lok Sabha polls, caused some raised eyebrows. Mr. Masood clarified that he had apologised for his “past mistakes,” but the BJP leaders who made hate speeches had “only justified their acts”.