At CWC meet, Sonia tears into Modi govt’s ‘divisive agenda’
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Modi government, accusing it of pushing the nation to a “regressive and narrowminded world-view” and pointed out that there’s a “close ideological affinity” between the lynch mobs, which have become all too common, and the ruling establishment.
Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, Mrs Gandhi said that the government has undone years of goodwill and progress by pursuing a “divisive agenda”. The “crisis in Jammu and Kashmir,” she added, “has come to represent the colossal failure of this government.”
In what is expected to be her last address to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) as party president, Mrs Gandhi said, “The Modi government has just completed three years in office. Where there was harmony, there is discord. Where there was tolerance, there is provocation. Where there was
relative calm, as in Kashmir, there is growing confrontation, tension and fear. Where there was economic potential, there is stagnation. Where there was rich diversity, there is a brazen campaign to straitjacket the whole country into a regressive and narrow-minded world-view.”
Her son and party vicepresident, Rahul Gandhi, is all set to take over the party’s reins by the end of October this year.
Expressing “concern” over the “rise in lynch mobs,” Mrs Gandhi, without referring to the Centre’s move to ban cow slaughter, said that “there is an assault on the livelihoods and food habits of those who follow different tenets and beliefs.”
“This government is using the power of the state to stifle voices that express different thoughts and ideas, or speak out for alternative policies and philosophies,” she said, and added that whether “it is politicians, institutions, students, civil society or the media, there is growing intolerance and active persecution of divergent voices in blatant disregard of the law of the land.”
Mrs Gandhi also reminded the party of its drubbing in the recently-concluded Assembly polls and the failure to convert winning numbers into forming the government in Goa and Manipur. “We cannot let this happen again,” she cautioned party leaders.
Speaking about the forthcoming presidential elections, Mrs Gandhi said that she is trying to unite the Opposition over the issue. “In a few weeks we will be electing the President and Vice-President of our Republic. In times such as these, it is even more essential that those who occupy this august office protect the Constitution,” she said.
Talking about parleys with other Opposition leaders, Mrs Gandhi said, “Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul, other colleagues and I have met the leaders of likeminded parties to find commonly acceptable candidates for these high offices.”
The Congress has set up a subgroup of representatives of Opposition parties to decide on the presidential candidate.
Referring to the crisis in J&K, Mrs Gandhi said that a large number of jawans and civilians have lost their lives or have been injured and scores of “young people have even been blinded.” She accused both the J&K government and the Centre of “insensitive handling of the situation”, which, according to her, is “systematically alienating and antagonising the local population, especially the youth.”
Mrs Gandhi has asked a group of party leaders, under the chairmanship of Dr Singh, to keep stock of the situation in the Valley.
Targeting demonetisation, Mrs Gandhi said that till date the government has “refused to disclose how much of the demonetised currency in circulation has actually been returned to the banks”.
“It isn’t that the Reserve Bank of India has forgotten how to count money; it is that the actual numbers show that the scheme was a disaster,” she quipped, and pointed out that recently released GDP figures “proved Dr Singh’s forecast, that demonetisation would slow down economic growth, correct”.
She said that even the much hyped “Make in India” has failed to create jobs or attract investment and “unemployment is rampant.” Speaking of farmers’ suicides, Mrs Gandhi said that “manifesto promises that should have been fulfilled in 2019 are now being shifted to 2022.”