Rahul Gandhi on Saturday chided Prime Minister Narendra Modi for leaving protesting farmers on the roads for a year amid a pandemic, and alleged that India now had a “king” who believed people should keep quiet when he took a decision.

The Congress leader told farmers at a rally in poll-bound Uttarakhand that his party intended to provide a government that worked in partnership with farmers, labourers and the poor.

“If a Prime Minister does not work for all he cannot be a Prime Minister. By that measure, Narendra Modi is not a Prime Minister,” Rahul told the Uttarakhandi Kisan Swabhiman Samvad rally here.

“India does not have a Prime Minister today. It has a king who believes that when the king takes a decision everyone else should keep quiet.”

Rahul said that when farmers approached the Manmohan Singh government seeking loan waivers, one worth Rs 70,000 crore was given to them within 10 days.

“It was not a dole or a free gift. We did it because you work 24 hours for the country,” Rahul said.

“The Congress never shut its doors on farmers.... We want to work in partnership with farmers, the poor, labourers so that every section feels it is their government.”

In contrast, he said, Modi left the protesting farmers to grapple with Covid and the cold on the roads instead of inviting them and listening to their grievances.

Rahul also highlighted the wealth gap in the country, speaking about “two Indias” with an income disparity “not seen anywhere else”.

“We have one India of rich industrialists, five-star hotels and Mercedes cars and another India of the poor and the unemployed, where inflation is rising,” he said.

“A select group of around 100 people has as much wealth as 40 per cent of India’s population. Such income disparity is not seen anywhere else.”

He added: “We don’t want two Indias but one India. We want the injustice to end.”

Rahul had on Wednesday, too, alleged that India no longer seemed a “Union of states” that conversed and negotiated with its citizens. Instead, “the idea of the king has come back — a shahenshah, a master”, he had told the Lok Sabha.

On Saturday, Rahul congratulated the farmers for their dogged resistance to the three farm laws, which the Modi government was forced to repeal. He said the Congress stood with them in their struggle because they were being subjected to injustice.

Harish Rawat, leader of the Congress campaign in Uttarakhand, and state unit chief Ganesh Godiyal shared the dais with Rahul.

Uttarakhand goes to the polls on February 14.