Targeting the BJP-led government at the Centre, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that the INDIA bloc will use its full force within the Parliament and even hit the roads if the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir is not restored after the ongoing assembly elections.
Addressing a rally here in support of the party candidates whose constituencies will go to polls in the third and the final phase of the assembly election in J&K, Rahul said that injustice has been done with the people as Jammu and Kashmir was the first state that was downgraded into a Union Territory in the history of independent India.
Rahul, also the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, introduced the candidates with the people and sought their votes for them. Himachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, who is AICC observer for J&K, was present. This was Rahul’s third visit to J&K in the past three weeks.
Immediately after reaching here, Rahul held an interaction with professionals at a hotel before addressing the public rally.
He said splitting J&K into two UTs was a grave injustice with the people of Jammu and Kashmir. “It should have never happened and I guarantee you that if the BJP does restore the statehood, we will use our full force in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and even come on the streets for the restoration of statehood to J&K,” he said.
He alleged that the statehood was snatched from J&K to benefit “outsiders” through the Lt Governor. “As long as the Lt. Governor is there, outsiders will benefit and the locals will be sidelined. This was the reason that statehood was snatched from J&K. They wanted J&K to be run by outsiders and not locals,” he said.
He said restoration of statehood is “your right and your future” and J&K cannot move forward without it.
Rahul said there was a systematic attack on small and medium businesses in the rest of the country as well. “This government runs for Ambani and Adani. And the GST and demonetization were weapons used to clear the road for them.”
He also criticised the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative by calling it ‘make in Adani’ programme, and claiming that all the contracts under the policy were being given to the business conglomerate Adani.
He accused the BJP government and the Lt Governor of breaking the backbone of Jammu which was the central hub of Jammu and Kashmir, facilitating a smooth flow of the production chain from the Kashmir valley to the rest of the country.