Srinagar- Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Congress wants Jammu and Kashmir to be run by locals rather than from Delhi, and promised the party would pressure the Centre to restore J&K’s statehood after the ongoing assembly polls.
Addressing back-to-back rallies at Surankote and Srinagar on the last date of campaigning for the second phase of polling on September 25, Gandhi launched a broadside against the BJP and RSS, and also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the INDIA bloc has ‘broken his psychology’ after the Lok Sabha elections.
“Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s psychology and confidence stands ‘broken’, the INDIA Alliance will ‘exert a pull’ on the centre in case Jammu and Kashmir did not have its constitutional rights restored post assembly elections,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“I guarantee you that we will have it restored. In fact, we had hoped for this to happen before the assembly elections,” Rahul said, addressing a mammoth gathering in support of INDIA Alliance candidate and PCC chief Tariq Hameed Karra at central Shalteng constituency.
“Modi used to boast about a 56-inch chest but he is not the same person anymore. His expression has completely changed, as has his attitude. People of India, the Congress and the INDIA Alliance have completely changed his appearance and temperament,” added Rahul.
Rahul said that earlier governments in J&K were run by locals and their decisions were meant for “your better future and in your interest”.
“Today, outsiders are making decisions for you and your voice is not there in your government. Your government is run from Delhi, orders are coming from Delhi. We want your government to be run from J&K,” he told the gathering.
He asked people to feel free to reach out to him to raise any issue in Parliament. “I am always available for you, just give me an order and I am there to help you.”
“Farooq sahib talked about hatred in the country. The BJP and RSS are spreading hatred in J&K and other states 24-hours a day. Wherever they go, they pit one brother against another. They have spread hatred in J&K, UP, Bihar, Manipur and across the nation. They only know this thing and nothing else. Their politics is based on hatred,” Rahul said.
Hatred cannot be conquered by hatred but love, Rahul said.
The J&K Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, was also met with harsh criticism by the Congress leader, who did not hold back in calling Sinha an ‘outsider’, saying he runs J&K without understanding the true meaning of ‘progress and development’.
“Not only did he (Modi) steal the democratic rights of the people of J&K, but decisions that they used to make through their elected MLAs on development, education, universities, colleges or health related matters are now made by outsiders. Since he is not a resident of J&K, the (Raja) monarch known as LG is an outsider who is unable to bring about the growth and advancement that the people of J&K desire,” the Congress leader said.
“We want J&K’s people to elect their leaders, MLAs, form their own government, and begin carrying out development projects on their own and that’s why we want statehood in J & K to be restored at the earliest,” he added.
In the last 10 years, Modi and the BJP leaders, according to Rahul, have instilled fear throughout the nation by dividing people along linguistic lines, inciting hatred wherever they go, and setting up rivalries amongst siblings and dividing people on regional lines.
“The people of J&K understand that hatred can only be vanquished by love, and not by hatred per se. Hatred is met with love instead of hatred. This is what your history; ideology and culture have taught you. We travelled 4000 km, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, and wherever the BJP had created a market of hatred, we opened a shop of love there,” the Congress leader said.
Since the UTs were generally elevated to the status of states in the past, he claimed, J&K is the only state in India’s constitutional history to be demoted to a union territory. “For the first time, a full-fledged state was turned into a UT and your democratic rights were snatched.”
Referring to the now defunct HMT watch factory, located at the stone’s throw from the venue of the rally, Rahul said the BJP has closed many such factories across the country.
“Modi administration waived 16 lakh core rupee loans of three billionaires and that the poor, farmers, laborers, women, and students in India are not granted the same privileges,” he said.
“They only work for a few billionaires; they shuttered all small and medium-sized firms, monetized the economy, and pushed the GST bill into parliament. As a consequence, youth in India and J&K are unemployed, regardless of their level of education—This is what Modi has given the country, and this is what their politics is based on,” he added.
Rahul also mocked PM Modi’s lengthy speeches at his Man Ki Baat program, saying that no one is paying attention to him because he doesn’t talk enough about (Kam ki Bat) the ‘matter of work’ which entails tackling inflation, managing unemployment, and providing hope for the future of India and J&K.
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