Jammu : The Jammu and Kashmir unit of Congress on Saturday came down heavily on the ruling BJP on the eve of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s scheduled virtual rally in the Union territory, saying it was nothing but an attempt to divert attention of the people from the real issues facing the country.
“The country is faced with COVID pandemic which is growing out of proportion and magnitude besides the grave external mischief and threats by hostile neighbours like China, Pakistan and Nepal.”
“The top brass of the government and ruling party are busy in addressing public rallies. They need to answer who is doing politics,” chief spokesperson of Pradesh Congress Committee Ravinder Sharma said in a statement here.
He said as the situation has turned “worse” on both the fronts and people have started questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government and its handling of the situation, the BJP crafted a “policy to divert the attention” of the people and engage them by holding virtual rallies by the top brass who are required to fully dedicate and devote to the most important assignments to deal with the “grave challenges”.
Referring to the first-ever virtual rally being addressed by the defence minister on Sunday, Sharma claimed that BJP is indulging in “diversionary tactics” when the people expect the government and the ruling party to be on the forefront to deal with the situation on different fronts, which are challenges of the highest order and really grave in nature for citizens of the country.
“The lives (of the people) are in danger from the worst pandemic while the territory of the country was trespassed and threatened,” he said in an apparent reference to the reports of incursion by China in Ladakh.
Condemning China, Pakistan and Nepal for deliberate mischiefs, misadventures and grave provocations of the worst kind, he said the defence minister and home minister of the country have the time and opportunity to organise and address rallies at huge expense in this “atmosphere of an emergency” on all fronts including the economic front.
He also lashed out at the attempts to divert the attention from the failures of the government to protect the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as the recent killing of sarpanch Ajay Pandita was the second attack and killing of any representative of PRIs in the same area in less than six months.
The party sought adequate security to the representatives of PRIs and others in all sensitive areas besides providing adequate ex gratia relief and jobs to the children of the slain sarpanches, he said.
