DH NEWS SERVICE
Srinagar, Aug 10
Congress leader Pawan Khera on Sunday accused the BJP-led Centre of not being able to curb terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and instead indulging in “jugglery of words”.
Participating in a chain hunger strike called by the Pradesh Congress Committee to demand Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood restoration, Khera was replying to a question on the ongoing anti-terror operation in Kulgam.
“In 2016, we were promised that terrorism would end after demonetisation. Do not go by their promises… they do not know how to run the government. They only know the jugglery of words,” Khera told reporters here.
“There will be a new drama every day to divert our and your attention. The reality is that the PM is neither able to run the government now, nor will he be able to in future,” Khera told reporters here.
At least two army personnel were killed while nine were injured in an encounter in the Akhal forest area of Kulgam, which entered its 10th day on Sunday as security forces tried to squeeze the cordon around the terrorists. Two terrorists have also been killed in the operation launched on August 1.
Khera said more powers reside with the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir than with the elected government.
“If the UT set up continues, there are too many compulsions. One has to work very hard as the hands are tied,” he said.
Asked about the killing of Pahalgam attackers in an encounter with security forces, Khera said the government should tell the nation how the attackers came in.
“They have been killed is a different thing, but how did they come? Tell us that. And how many more are still around?” he said.
Asked about the steep hike in tariffs imposed by the US on Indian goods, Khera said President Donald Trump thinks that India is a weak country.
“He looks at Modi and thinks that Modi is India. India is way bigger than Modi; it is a power. If anyone has shown the true power of India to the US, it was Indira Gandhi in 1971.
“Trump should understand that India’s power is a different thing, and Modi is the PM. There have been several PMs before him and there will be more after him,” he said.
The Congress leader said the foreign policy of the present government was a failure, as no nation publicly supported India after the Pahalgam attack or during Operation Sindoor.
“Tell me one nation that stood by India and said ‘Pakistan did wrong’… If your neighbours like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are against you, what kind of foreign policy is that? There are two superpowers right now — America and China. Both are working against you, and Pakistan is taking advantage of both,” he said.
The Congress on Sunday said it will hold discussions with INDIA bloc partners in the next few days to chalk out a united response to what it alleges are instances of manipulation of voter lists in several states.
Congress leader Pawan Khera said a people’s campaign has started against the alleged “vote theft” by the Election Commission and the ruling BJP, with many people investigating voter lists on their own.
Khera was non-committal when asked if the party would demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the issue.
“We are discussing this with our INDIA alliance partners also. In the next two or three days, we will have another discussion with them and we will come back with a joint strategy,” he added.
Asked if going to the court was an option, the Congress spokesperson said he would not be able to comment on it at this stage. “But we all have to take a united stand on how to proceed in future,” he said.
Gandhi on Thursday claimed a “huge criminal fraud” in polls through “collusion” between the BJP and the Election Commission, citing his party’s analysis of voter rolls in a constituency in Karnataka last year.
Khera questioned the Election Commission, which has sought an affidavit from Gandhi on the vote theft allegations, asking if the poll body believes its papers are not.
“These papers belong to the Election Commission. The ECI does not trust its own papers? Let them give an affidavit first (about the papers),” he said.
“We also challenge the Election Commission. If it is proven right, will the CEC resign? Can he give it to us in writing?” he asked.
Gandhi, on his part, has said that he will not sign a declaration, asserting that he has already taken an oath to uphold the Constitution as a member of Parliament.
Asked why the poll body was at the centre of this campaign, Khera alleged that over the last 10 years, a lot of constitutional institutions have collapsed or are on the verge of collapsing.
“The Election Commission is at the forefront of institutions that should have upheld democracy, but it is collapsing,” he said.
Khera also hit back at the EC, which has asked Gandhi to apologise for what it claims are “fake” charges, and said, “You do the stealing and we have to apologise? Now you will be investigated.
“We have taken papers from you and put them before you and you have been caught in the act. They should respond. Why do they want to destroy footage within 45 days? Why are they not giving us the electronic voter list? What are they trying to hide? What is their fear?” he asked.
Khera asserted that there was nothing for his party to prove.
“The burden of proof is on them. Rahul Gandhi is the Leader of the Opposition, who has become an MP after taking the oath of the Constitution. Does the EC not have faith in the Constitution?” he added.
Khera said the party on Sunday launched a missed call number on its website.
“People are very keen on investigating themselves and in the last three to four days, you have seen independent experts, not even experts, citizens of India are bringing out details which even we did not have. So this is becoming a people’s campaign and when it becomes a people’s campaign, they will decide how to go about it in the future,” he said.
Khera said the government is very scared and nervous. “They better be nervous”.
After Gandhi made his “vote chori” allegations in a press conference on Thursday, top INDIA bloc leaders held a dinner meeting at his residence and vowed to fight the electoral rolls’ revision in Bihar as well as what they described as the “vote chori model” of the BJP-Election Commission.
