 "Rahul Gandhi, Rahul, congress leader")
Immediately after reaching Jammu on Wednesday, Gandhi held an interaction with professionals at a hotel before moving to the JK Resort Ground to address a public rally | (Photo: PTI)
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the INDIA bloc will use its full force within Parliament and even hit the roads if the BJP-led government fails to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir after the ongoing assembly elections.
Addressing a public rally in support of party candidates here, the former Congress president said a grave injustice was done with the people of Jammu and Kashmir when the erstwhile state was divided into two union territories in 2019.
This was his third visit to Jammu and Kashmir in the past nearly three weeks. He visited Banihal and Dooru constituencies on September 4 ahead of the first phase of assembly polls on September 18. His visit to Surankote and Central-Shalteng came on September 23, two days ahead of the second phase of polls September 25.
Immediately after reaching Jammu on Wednesday, Gandhi held an interaction with professionals at a hotel before moving to the JK Resort Ground to address a public rally.
“It should have never happened and I guarantee you that if the BJP is not going to restore the statehood (after elections), we — the INDIA alliance — will use our full force in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and even come on the roads for the restoration of statehood to J-K,’ he told the rally.
He alleged that the statehood was snatched from J&K to benefit “outsiders” through 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 told the crowd that the restoration of statehood is “your right and your future” and J-K cannot move forward without it.
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 was 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 Valley to the rest of the country.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Published: Sep 25 2024 | 3:02 PM IST
