Respect of Congress cadres will be maintained in poll alliance: Rahul Gandhi

Srinagar, Aug 22: Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi today said that the respect of his party cadres will be maintained in the assembly poll alliance with the National Conference ( NC).

He was addressing a meeting of Congress workers here.

"Electoral alliance will be formed but formed by maintaining the respect of Congress workers and leaders. It is simple. The alliance will be formed but with love and respect. Because you ( Congress workers ) have given your lives to protect the ideology of Congress and take it forward. You faced hardships," Rahul Gandhi said.

He added that if anybody has worked fearlessly and with confidence in Jammu and Kashmir, it is the Congress worker. "I know what you have to tolerate. For protecting the Congress ideology and flag, you fight daily and remain prepared to offer lives," the Congress leader said.

Describing his party cadres in J&K as " Babar Sher" (lions) he said that they are not just party workers and leaders but part of a big family." Whenever you need us -Whether me, Kharge sahab,  Venugopal sahab or  Karra sahib,  give us an order, we will be present," the Congress leader said.

Rahul Gandhi stated that assembly polls are being held in different states. "As we came to know that polls are being held. Khage ji and I met and we decided that first we must go to Jammu and Kashmir. This is so because we wanted to give a message to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and people of every state of India that for us the representation of J&K people and their statehood is more important.

After independence several times the union territories were made states. But there is just one example when the statehood was snatched (from Jammu and Kashmir) and it was made a union territory. This has happened for the first time and had not happened earlier. We want to give this message that the representation of the Jammu and Kashmir people is important. It is important for us and it is important for the country. That is why we came here together," he said.

The Leader of Opposition in  Lok Sabh said that he is protecting democracy and safeguarding representationof the people in the whole country. "My objective and that of the Congress is to end the pain, grief and fear, the people of J&K are suffering from.  This is not a political thing for me. Somebody in an ice cream parlour here yesterday asked me about my liking for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. But I told them that I do not like the people of J&K but I love them. I have other relations with you. The more I come here, the deeper I understand it. This is an old relation and that is the relationship of blood. This message I wanted to give you," he said.

Rahul Gandhi said the Congress workers in J&K are aware of the situation in the country.  "Unemployment is in the country and unemployment is in Jammu and Kashmir. The youth of the country including that of Jammu and Kashmir are not getting the opportunities they deserve. But one thing has changed. And you must have seen it on TV also. In parliamentary polls, the INDIA bloc ended the confidence of Narendra Modi Ji. He was defeated by Congress ideology and  INDIA bloc ideology, love, unity and respect. We did not resort to violence and did not use abusive language, but told Narendra Modi Ji in clear terms that he is not what he is thinking about himself. We broke his confidence and psychology," he said.

The Congress leader stated that he wanted to tell the people and youth of Jammu and Kashmir that "Nafrat Kaay Baazar Main Mohabat Ki Dukaan Khool Laen." "Hate cannot be fought with hate but with love. And together we will defeat hate with love, he said.

Later, Rahul Gandhi made a brief statement at a press conference and demanded that the statehood should be restored to Jammu and Kashmir immediately after the assembly polls.  "We were expecting the restoration of statehood before assembly polls. But they announced the polls which is a step forward. We now expect the statehood restoration after the polls. Congress and INDIA bloc is committed to make efforts in this direction," he said.

Mallikarjun Kharge also made a brief statement and said that the INDIA bloc will fight for the restoration of statehood to J&K. He said during their visit they wanted to take feedback from Congress cadres regarding the poll alliance.