Hitting out at the BJP for spreading hatred, violence and fear across the country, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his party will defeat this ugly situation with love and respect to all sections of society.

“Hatred cannot be negated by hatred, it can only be defeated by love,” he said.

Gandhi was addressing election rallies at Dooru in south Kashmir and Sangaldan in the Banihal constituency of Jammu.

National Conference (NC) chief Dr. Farooq Abdullah, who was also present in the rally at Dooru, along with Rahul formally launched the joint election campaign of the NC—Congress.

They also released a “chargesheet” against the BJP government and the J&K administration.

Rahul said that the INDIA bloc will ensure restoration of statehood of J&K.

“For the first time in the history of independent India, a state was degraded into a Union Territory. When we turn a UT into a state or create a state, we deepen democracy and take forward rights of people even deeper. But when we make a state into a UT, rights are snatched away. This injustice has been done to you in J&K. Restoring J&K’s statehood is our responsibility, not only of Congress party’s or National Conference’s or INDIA Alliance’s, but of every citizen of India.

“I am here to tell you that BJP and RSS might tell you anything, we are going to give back statehood to the people of J&K. We wanted statehood to be restored before elections but BJP didn’t want this, they wanted elections first. We accept that but you will get the statehood,” Gandhi said.

Saying that the natural resources and other assets of J&K were being given away to some blue-eyed people of the government, the Congress leader slammed the Lt. Governor by calling him a “monarch”. “We ended monarchy after the independence of the country, but today a “raja” (king) is sitting here and his name is LG. Your wealth and benefits are being snatched and given to outsiders”.

Rahul said that the Congress—NC coalition government is coming to power here, this is going to happen. Our first task will be to fill all government vacancies and we will extend the recruitment age to 40 years, we will regularize the daily wage workers, make them permanent and we will increase their income. Our goal will be to run the government of Jammu and Kashmir by taking everyone together, everyone should be respected, we will take everyone together.

J&K was generating hydroelectricity but the people here were being made to pay hefty electricity bills.

“We want to form a government which protects and benefits small businessmen, farmers, and others. I know Jammu and Kashmir has already decided. Because the INDIA alliance is fighting for justice. You all must remember that on one side there is BJP and RSS, while on other, there is Congress and National Conference”, said Rahul.

He said that unemployment has spready manifolds under the BJP government. He said that the BJP has “exploited” the Kashmiri Pandits as a vote bank, but we want to connect with them.