: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while demanding restoration of full statehood and a free and fair electoral process, on August 10 said Jammu and Kashmir was facing a direct onslaught.
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Speaking at the party’s newly constructed headquarters in Srinagar during his two-day visit to Kashmir, Mr. Gandhi said he could “relate with the pain suffered by the people” of J&K.
“When our government was in place, we managed to hold panchayat elections, introduced schemes like Udhaan for youth, invited industrialists here and took many youth outside J&K to integrate them. The same process of integration is under attack now. J&K is no more a State now. I know your pain and I am with you,” he said.
Mr. Gandhi, also a Member of Parliament, said, “What can be achieved by showing love, dignity and compassion in J&K cannot be achieved by hatred, violence and division”.
He said the strength of the people of Kashmir was brotherhood and respect towards each other. “In fact, ‘Kashmiriyat’ has contributed while laying the foundation of India. I advocate a relationship of dignity and love with the people of J&K,” he added.
He said there was an onslaught on democratic institutions of India, including the judiciary, Parliament and the press. The concept of India, the democratic structure and the Constitution were under attack, he noted.
“I am not allowed to speak in Parliament on the issues of Pegasus, Rafale, J&K and corruption. There is a direct onslaught in Kashmir and indirect in the rest of the country. Not only J&K, but entire India is being targeted,” he said, while referring to the government’s decision to disallow him to visit J&K after revocation of its special status in 2019.
He said he was fighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi wherever he went. “My fight is against the ideology of division, hatred and violence. My party is different from the other because we advocate the politics of love and dignity. We will defeat the ideology of hatred one day,” he added.
He said the press was not able to play its role freely in the country. “If anyone writes freely, fear of losing a job looms large,” he noted.
Referring to his roots in Kashmir, Mr. Gandhi said he understood J&K well as he knew the local customs and thinking. “It always feels like home. I will keep coming to this place. I plan to visit Jammu and Ladakh soon,” he added.
