New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday targeted the Narendra Modi government for its “brazen campaign” to push the country into a “regressive and narrow-minded world-view”.
She was addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) — the party’s highest decision-making body. The meeting was attended by vice-president Rahul Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former finance minister P Chidambaram and party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Janardan Dwivedi, Ambika Soni among others.
“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 strait-jacket the whole country into a regressive and narrow-minded world-view,” Gandhi, who chaired the meeting, said in her opening remarks.
Gandhi alleged a “systematic attempt” by the BJP government to suppress voices of dissent in the country to help hide its corruption, saying that with the 2019 general elections fast approaching, it was important to protect the essence and idea of India that the ruling government is seeking to destroy.
“The systematic attempt to blunt tools of accountability, undermine the judiciary and suppress dissent, serves this government the larger purpose of concealing corruption. Cronies and individuals close to the establishment have either seen the dramatic increase in wealth and influence in the last three years or have escaped the wrath of the law and managed to flee the country,” she said.
Gandhi also said that it was a matter of grave concern that there has been a rise in ‘lynch mobs”, and more importantly, a “close ideological affinity” between the mobs and the ruling establishment.
On the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, she added, “The crisis has come to represent the colossal failure of this government. A divisive agenda is being followed which has undone years of goodwill and progress.
"It is imperative that the government correct its flawed approach, restore normalcy to regain the trust of the people.” She added that a small group of people, under the leadership of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, is keeping abreast of the situation in the state.
Addressing a press conference following a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), senior party leader and Member of Parliament Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Modi government was a hero when it came to being on television, but zero in reality. “Ye sirf naaron aur publicity ki sarkar hai, jo TV pe toh hero dikhti hai par zameeni kaamon mein zero hai (This is a government of slogans and publicity… on TV they look like heroes but on the ground, they are zero),” Azad said, adding that the government has only managed to create ‘fear’ in the last three years.
Following the meeting, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi said vital political issues including the crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, the government’s mishandling of the economy, the upcoming presidential polls and the INC organisation elections were discussed.
Commenting on the economic situation, Manmohan Singh said, “India’s economic growth has slowed down sharply, driven primarily by the notebandi announcement of November 2016. Private sector investment has collapsed and the economy is running on just one engine of public spending.”
He added that the most worrisome aspect was its impact on job creation. “Jobs have been extremely hard to come by for the youth of the nation. The construction industry which was one of the largest employment generators in the country has suffered a contraction. This implies loss of millions of jobs for the nation’s workplace.”
Congress President Sonia Gandhi congratulated ISRO scientists for the historic launch of the GSLV MK III-D1 rocket, carrying the GSAT-19 satellite, and said the success and progress made by the current government has been derived from programmes and projects started by the UPA government.
