By Ashraf Padanna/Kochi

Congress Party vice president Rahul Gandhi yesterday stepped up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said his ‘suit-boot’ government had failed on all counts.
“Like they are taking land away from farmers, they want to take the sea away from the fishermen,” Gandhi said while addressing fisherfolk in the coastal town of Chavakkad in Kerala.
Gandhi was referring to the Modi government’s decision to extend a ban on trawling during the peak breeding season from 45 to 61 days to protect marine wealth.
“Wherever the government wants to take away the rights of people - whether it’s fishermen, labourers or farmers they will be confronted by the Congress,” he said.
Fishermen in the southern state with a 550km coastline are up in arms against the trawling ban and other proposals that they say favour big players.
“Land is the kisan’s (farmer) mother, sea is your mother and they want to take your mother away and give it to someone else,” Gandhi told a fishermen’s ‘sangamam’ (conclave) on the second day of his Kerala visit.
Gandhi, who forced the government to refer the land bill to a joint parliamentary committee, described the farmers, fisherfolks and tribespeople as the “soul” of the nation and vowed to safeguard their rights.
“The NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government is not picking a fight with the poor fishermen, farmers and tribals, but with the soul of the country,” Gandhi said. “Nobody has ever won the fight against the soul of the country.”
Earlier, he had his lunch along with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and other leaders at a fisherman’s home where he interacted with the villagers.
He had a “delicious meal of kappa with meen (tapioca and fish curry) with the family of Kizhakkuttu Karunakaran and Thankamani,” Gandhi’s office tweeted later.
“I am telling you from this stage, they (the central government) should be very, very careful about whom they are confronting,” the Congress vice-president said as he took yet another jibe at the ‘suit-boot’ government as he did in parliament referring to Modi’s pinstriped suit and foreign jaunts.
“We are going to fight for every single person who feels oppressed... we are not scared of Narendra Modi or his five or six friends in suits,” Gandhi said.