Jammu: Terming the remarks as attributed to Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi as “untrue”, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that reservation would continue until there is untouchability and a lack of social justice for various sections of the society in the country.
Kharge sidestepped a direct reply about the National Conference’s (NC) resolve to restore Article 370 and said their agenda is to restore “statehood”.
“Reservation cannot be scrapped until there is casteism in the Hindu religion. Until there is untouchability and lack of social justice, reservation will continue. It will continue till my death. I will tell my children to fight for it,” Kharge told a press conference here.
Responding to a question about Gandhi’s remarks on reservation, Kharge clarified, “He has not said so. He will not even say so. We will not even allow him to say (anything like this)”.
The Congress president emphasized that his party fully supports reservation.
“It will not go. We will fight for it,” he said.
Gandhi, who is in the US, told the students of Georgetown University that the Congress would think of scrapping reservations when “India is a fair place” but added that this is not the case right now.
When asked whether his party would support the National Conference’s resolve to bring back Article 370, Kharge said, “You know our agenda (on Article 370). You should go through our working committee resolutions. What we have said, we will go by that. Our one aim is to restore statehood. Other things later.”
Kharge also revealed the eight-point promises in their recently released manifesto, reiterating, “Our first agenda is the restoration of statehood. After ensuring that, other matters can come later.”
Regarding the elections, Kharge expressing optimism said, “The first phase of elections went well. We are hopeful that the NC and Congress will get maximum seats. In the upcoming phases too, the NC and Congress alliance will gain good seats and form a government that works for all sections of the people. We expect a majority in this election.”
Replying to another question whether it was surrender for the Congress to give maximum seats to the National Conference (NC), Kharge said, “No, it was neither a surrender nor a compulsion for the Congress. The alliance is nationwide. It can be seen in Parliament too.”
The Congress president further said that the alliance has been formed to uproot and remove the BJP from politics, to work together and jointly keep the RSS away from its influence and safeguard the state.
“We are working on this mission,” he added.
Replying to another question about the BJP’s allegation that the alliance is pursuing a Pakistani agenda, as the NC claims it will implement Article 370 once in power with the Congress, Kharge dismissed these allegations as false and a diversionary tactic.
“What Modi ji and Amit Shah are saying about the Congress having a Pakistani agenda is false. We have not gone to eat biryani. We did not hug him. They hugged him and now blame us,” he said.
The Congress president said Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about patriotism, but the suitable phrase here is ”love with us and marriage with Pakistan”.
“The BJP has ruled for ten years with a lieutenant governor here, but they have not fulfilled their promises. They keep bringing up Pakistan to divert attention from their unfulfilled promises,” he said.
Reacting sharply to Prime Minister Modi’s statement that they will restore statehood in Jammu and Kashmir, Kharge said, “Why have you (PM) not done it? Why are they only talking about it during elections? It was in their hands. They had the power, but they did nothing.”
When asked whether Gandhi is pitching locals against outsiders during campaigning in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress president dismissed the accusation as false.
“It is a lie. He does not say local and non-local. But who is taking contracts here? Are people from outside taking contracts? Who takes contracts of sand, mining and liquor? Those who have a habit of telling lies will always spread falsehoods,” he said.
Referring to Gandhi’s slogan of ‘Bharat Jodo’, Kharge said, “His slogan is to take everyone together. They are the ones who run the shops of hate. RSS and BJP people always spread lies.”
Kharge also criticized Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for repeatedly targeting the Gandhi and Abdullah families on withdrawing reservation.
“These are things that don’t exist on the ground. The BJP manufactures such threats and browbeats the public. They say that three families destroyed J&K. You two have destroyed India for the past ten years,” he said.
On the issue of rehabilitating the Kashmiri Pandits, Kharge said, “We will implement the rehabilitation program of Manmohan Singh ji for the displaced community. We have promised this in our manifesto and we will fulfill it.”
Responding to the BJP’s criticism that Gandhi is on a leisure trip to America when he should be in Jammu and Kashmir for the elections, Kharge dismissed the claim.
“It is not the first time they are saying this about Rahul ji. Where is the PM going? The PM does not have the courage to go to Manipur, where rapes are happening and houses are being destroyed. Manipur is closer to us than America. Please tell this to the PM and then talk about nationalism,” he said.
