SRINAGAR, Aug 11: All India Congress general secretary, Rahul Gandhi, today said that Jammu and Kashmir is under direct assault from New Delhi and people are deeply hurt.
Rahul Gandhi while addressing a gathering at the party office here in Srinagar said that the concept of India, its very Constitution, is under attack. “While elsewhere it is happening indirectly, but J&K is under the direct assault of New Delhi”, he added.
“If you show love and respect to the people of J&K, anything can be done, but they are showing hatred, violence with no respect and with that nothing can be achieved”, he added.
Not only J&K is under assault, but it is happening everywhere in the country. They are not letting us speak in the Parliament even as we wanted to talk about the Pegasus, Rafale, J&K and unemployment”, he added.
He said that they (BJP) are attacking every institution of the country. “The press is under attack, they are being intimidated and are not able to write what the truth is”, he said.
“I know people of J&K are hurt, but let me tell you that I want a relationship of love and respect with you”, he said.
The Congress leader said that their fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue and he will be defeated. “I fight against Narendra Modi and we will continue to fight against their divisive policies and will defeat them. I will continue to fight against hatred and fear and that’s what makes us different. We don’t use violence against anyone as Congress is the army of love and non-violence”, he said.
“I have come here with love and respect and I want that the full Statehood of J&K should be restored without any delay and the democratic process should resume”, he added.
“I can tell that I know you people even though I have not been able to come here frequently. Before Delhi, my family used to live in Allahabad, and before that, we used to live here in Kashmir”, he said.
“Your thinking, your customs, which we call Kashmiriyat is in me as well. I feel like coming back home whenever I am here”, he added.
Rahul said that the strength of the people of J&K lies in the brotherhood and there is Kashmiriyat deep-rooted in the foundation of India as well. “Whatever is done with love cannot be achieved with hatred and that’s what Kashmiriyat is”, he said.
Highlighting the achievements of the Congress in J&K, he said that when his party was in power, they did a lot by carrying out different programs. “We started the UDAAN program, we sent the youngsters outside and were trying to connect people with love and affection, but they have hurt that very process”, he said.
Earlier, Rahul visited Mata Kheerbhawani Temple in Tulmulla, Ganderbal and Hazratbal shrine to pay obeisance. He said that he will visit Jammu and Ladakh soon.
Speaking on the occasion, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, criticised BJP for its assault on democracy.
“After forming the Government in J&K, the BJP pulled out of the Government after that did something which is unheard of in any democracy in the world; not even in our country do we find any such example”, he said.
“We have seen UTs being upgraded to the States, but the Centre made fun of J&K. State was bifurcated and downgraded to a UT. Following that, 16500 people were put in jails; even the former CMs and other leaders were arrested. What happened after that, we need to forget that considering it a bad dream”, he said.
Azad said that he was hopeful that the PM will fulfil the promises made with the leaders of J&K during the All Party Meet. “Restrictions were imposed on the visits to every political party and that was not a sign of democracy. We are hopeful that the assurances and promises made by the PM during APM will be kept”, he said.
He added he hopes that Statehood will be restored soon to J&K and does not want a Delhi like Government in J&K. “We stated that it will be in the interest of the people, Govt and democracy if the Statehood is restored fully first and then the elections will be held after that as we do not want a Delhi like Government”, he said.
Azad said that people of J&K should have exclusive rights on jobs and land. “We also want the provisions of 35-A which includes that the outsiders won’t be able to buy land, neither would they get the jobs; we have such examples in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It was a law during Maharaja Hari Singh’s time, it is nothing new, it was not a law of Sheikh Sahab nor was it of anyone else’s”, he said.
“There are 13000 industries in Jammu and out of them, in these few years, 65% have been shut as they used to supply goods to Kashmir, but people of Kashmir were already facing an economic crunch”, he said.
“Parliament session is still on, and I urge Rahul Ji to tell the Government on the floor of the Parliament that you have promised the restoration of Statehood in J&K, for that, bring in a bill in the House and pass it; and the bill should also be having the provisions of 35-A”, he said.
Meanwhile, in a significant development, after completing his two days schedule at Srinagar, Rahul Gandhi on his way back to Srinagar Airport, took a detour to the residence of senior Congress leader and CWC member Tariq Hameed Karra at Shivpora and spent around one hour there. On enquiring from different sources, it was revealed that it was Rahul Gandhi’s personal visit to Karra’s house where he spent one hour exclusively with him and his family. Pertinently it is to mention that after Karra joined Congress Party, it was Rahul Gandhi’s first visit to Srinagar and he managed to take out some time to visit Karra’s residence.
Rahul was accompanied by general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal and AICC Incharge for Jammu and Kashmir Rajni Patil.
