Surankote/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.
“He used to boast about a 56-inch chest but he is not the same person anymore,” Gandhi said.
He said “today Narendra Modi is not the person he was before the elections; he no longer has that confidence; his expression has completely changed, as has his attitude,” Gandhi said.
He addressed the first rally of the day at the Surankote assembly segment of Poonch district, where he accused the BJP and RSS of spreading “hatred and violence” and dividing people on the lines of caste, creed, religion, region and language.
His second rally was in Srinagar, which a party leader termed “a new dawn” for the Congress in Kashmir as it was “the first major gathering for the party in Srinagar in the past three decades”.
At Surankote, Gandhi said there are numerous examples of union territories being upgraded to states but never ever in the history of India a state was downgraded to a union territory.
“For the first time, a full-fledged state (J&K) was turned into a UT and your democratic rights were snatched,” he told the rally, also attended by Congress ally and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah.
“We will put pressure on them (government) and we will ensure that it (restoration of statehood) is done. If they don’t do it we will,” Gandhi said.
Seeking support for Congress-NC alliance candidates, he said his party wanted restoration of statehood before the ongoing polls.
“We were of the view that statehood should be restored first followed by elections but they did not do it. We will put pressure on them and you will get back your statehood after elections,” the former Congress president said.
Lashing out at the BJP-led government for “taking away” the rights of the people, he said 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,” Gandhi said.
Hatred cannot be conquered by hatred but love, Gandhi said.
“We are engaged in ideological fighting — on one side there is hatred and on the other we want to open the ‘shops of love’. We conducted Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir then followed it by another march from Manipur to Maharashtra with only one message that hatred is of no benefit to anyone. We opened the shops of love in the markets of hate in every state.”
Targeting the prime minister, he said Modi used to boast about a 56-inch chest but “he is not the same person anymore”.
“Today, the opposition does whatever it wants. They (the government) bring bills but we stand in front of them and they don’t pass the law and instead bring another bill. The confidence they had is finished because we have broken his (Modi’s) ideology which is visible on his face.”
Referring to Modi’s speech from the Lok Sabha election campaign, he said, “When pressure increased on him, he said his birth is not biological and that he has direct connection with God. The psychological pressure on him was visible and it was because of the INDIA alliance which finished him psychologically. We have not done it by hate, it is they who spread hate, we have done it by love.”
At his second rally of the day — at Zainakote area on Srinagar’s outskirts seeking votes for J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra from central Shalteng constituency — Gandhi promised to be the voice of the people of J&K in Parliament. “Whenever you need me, you just have to give me an order and I will be present before you. I will raise your issues in Parliament.”
Referring to the now defunct HMT watch factory, located at the stone’s throw from the venue of the rally, Gandhi said the BJP has closed many such factories across the country.
He accused the Modi government of benefitting only 25 business persons, while ignoring the common people. “For 25 people, he waived Rs 16 lakh crore loans. They do not waive off loans of the poor, farmers, labourers, students, and women.”
He said the youths of the country including J&K are not getting jobs despite having college and university degrees. “This is the gift of Narendra Modi. This is his politics.”
“He only talks about his ‘Mann Ki baat’ and not ‘Kaam ki baat’. ‘Kaam ki baat’ is to give jobs and vision to the youth, reduce and restore statehood to J&K. No one is listening to your ‘Mann ki Baat’ (anymore),” Gandhi said, adding that ‘Kaam ki baat’ would be tackling inflation, managing unemployment, and providing hope for the future of India and J&K.
He also hit out at the J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, saying “he (Sinha) has been installed as a king but he cannot address the issues of J&K as he does not understand the place”. (With additional inputs from PTI)
