Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday that the alliance for the assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir won’t be at the cost of the self-esteem of the party workers.

Addressing a meeting of the Congress workers in Srinagar, Rahul Gandhi said there would be an alliance for the upcoming assembly elections. Still, it would be done while maintaining the respect of the Congress party. All party workers should rest assured that there would be no compromise on their interests and respect, he said.

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Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, General Secretary KC Venugopal, and PCC Chief Tariq Hameed Karra were among the leaders present at the meeting. Rahul and Kharge arrived at Srinagar on Wednesday to prepare the party workers for the assembly elections.

Both leaders went out for dinner in a famous restaurant in the city where Rahul obliged many locals by letting them take selfies with him. Later, he walked to an ice cream parlour and interacted with people.

Talking to media persons, Rahul said, “It is our priority in the Congress party and the INDIA coalition to restore statehood to Jammu & Kashmir as soon as possible. We had expected that this would be done before the elections but elections have been declared. It is a step forward and we are hoping that statehood will be restored as soon as possible and the democratic rights will be restored to the people”.

“We are very clear in our national manifesto as well that it is a priority for us that the people of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh get their democratic rights back. My message to the people of Jammu & Kashmir is, however, we can help you. The Congress party is always there for you. We understand that you’re going through a very difficult period, a tough period, and we want to remove violence,” said Rahul.

Addressing the party workers, he said he was pained to see the sufferings of the people under the current regime. It is the moral responsibility of Congress to pull Jammu & Kashmir out of this mess. “During the recent Lok Sabha elections the INDIA bloc destroyed Narendra Modi’s confidence. He was not defeated by Rahul Gandhi but by the ideology of the Congress party, INDIA, love, unity and respect. We did not use foul language during the election campaign”.

“I want to tell the people of Jammu & Kashmir and the youth that we have to open shop of love in the market of hatred. Hatred can be defeated by love. And together we will defeat hatred with love,” he said.

“You are not workers, you are family. As soon as we got to know that elections were going to be held, we first decided to come here to Jammu & Kashmir because we want to give a message to the people of every state that for us the representation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and their statehood is the most important thing,” Rahul said.

He pointed out that in the history of India, after independence, many Union territories were converted into states but J&K is the only example where statehood has been snatched and the full-fledged state downgraded as a Union territory. This never happened before and we want to give this message that the representation of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is important, it is important for us and it is important for the country.”

Striking a chord with Kashmiris, Rahul said, “Every time I come here, I realise even more that I share an old and blood relation with you all. If there’s someone who has worked in Jammu & Kashmir with confidence and bravery, it is the Congress workers. I know what you all go through.”

Kharge said Rahul Gandhi was interested that in Jammu & Kashmir, we all should fight together and we want to move forward by taking the Opposition along as well.

“Today, the BJP is worried and that is why you must have seen that they wanted to pass 2-3 Bills but due to the opposition withdrew or sent them to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). When everyone strongly opposed the Waqf Board Amendment Bill, it was sent to the JPC,” Kharge added.

Taking a jibe at PM Narendra Modi, Kharge said, “Modi ji talks a lot and does not do anything. We have shown how to work. Sonia Gandhi ji did many things, Manmohan Singh ji talked less but did many things for the people, but BJP leaders speak a lot and do nothing.”