For BJP, Constitution a piece of paper worth nothing, says Priyanka Gandhi
Congress leader says loans worth ₹16 lakh crore were waived for billionaires while farmers unable to a ord their basic needs commit suicide for a few thousand rupees
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s men speak haughtily about changing the Constitution that was written with the blood of the nation’s freedom ghters and martyrs.
“They treat the Constitution of India that upholds our rights of liberty, equality, and brotherhood as an instrument of their own greed and ambition — as if it is a piece of paper worth nothing,” she said at an election campaign meeting on Saturday held at Cheraman ground near Eriyad, Thrissur, in support of Benny Behanan, candidate of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Chalakudy Lok Sabha constituency.
Alleging that the policies were made for the benet of the Prime Minister’s monopolist friends in the “new nation”, Ms. Gandhi said it happened at a time when masses fell into unemployment and poverty.
“Public assets that belong to the people of India, assets that were built by the sweat and toil of our people, are handed to the Prime Minister’s billionaire friends one after the other with impunity. Airports, ports, highways, vast tracts of public land and whole sectors of industry like cement, power and coal are virtually controlled by just a handful of businessmen close to the Prime Minister,” she said.
The Congress leader pointed out that loans worth ₹16 lakh crore were waived for them while farmers unable to aord their basic needs commit suicide for a few thousand rupees they do not have the means to repay.
‘Silencing dissent’
Blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance government of having silenced voices of dissent, she said the government harassed, accused, and imprisoned those who dared to speak against it like thugs who oppressed those who raised their heads in protest.
“Students are arrested for expressing their opinion, activists are raided and jailed, journalists are sacked, beaten, and imprisoned for reporting the truth and much of the media is controlled by collaborators of a government that believes in false propaganda, silence, and oppression. Opposition leaders are imprisoned and expelled from Parliament with impunity. Government
agencies that are meant to protect the law are turned into unlawful extortionists and used to silence dissent. This is the New India we are accepting today,” she said.
Electoral bonds
On allegations of corruption over the electoral bond scheme, Ms. Gandhi said the government passed an ordinance enabling the scheme so that political donations could be accepted anonymously from companies. “It then coerces, harasses, and raids companies to extort donations from them. One company’s valuation is lower than the amount it donates to the ruling party! Others have cases against them before they make hefty donations and suddenly, their problems vanish. Many appear to donate in exchange for business deals and contracts, the list is endless,” she said.
Accusing the government of protecting rapists and defending the oppressors and abusers of women, Ms. Gandhi alleged that women were molested and paraded naked before the entire nation in Manipur and the government did nothing. “Instead, our Prime Minister tells us that he is ghting for the rights of women, and we are told to believe him,” she said.
Abhinath, a 22-year-old native of Kannur, who underwent a complex surgery for eating epilepsy disorder, along with his doctors at Medical Trust Hospital, Kochi.
Doctors at Medical Trust Hospital successfully performed a surgery on a 22year youth diagnosed with eating epilepsy characterised by reex seizures induced by food intake.
A native of Kannur, Abhinath had rst faced the rare disorder when he was
preparing for his Class 10 examination. He had been suering over the past seven years due to the rare disorder in which seizures are triggered by eating.
A 12-hour-long brain surgery was performed by a team led by Dr. Chandu P., neurologist and epileptologist, and Nihal Ahemad, neurosurgeon, according to a communication.