Will resort to street protest if statehood not restored to J&K: Rahul

Jammu, Sep 25: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and former All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Rahul Gandhi Wednesday stated that INDI Alliance would use both fora of the Parliament and even resort to street protests to ensure restoration of statehood to J&K, after assembly elections.

If BJP did not concede this demand, the INDI Alliance government, which would soon be in place, would grant statehood to J&K people, he said.

Rahul alleged that only outsiders would get contracts as long as the Lieutenant Governor (LG) was there while people from J&K would be sidelined.

Former AICC President was addressing an election rally at JK Resorts in Jammu, in support of Congress candidates contesting from Jammu district, including Raman Bhalla, Mula Ram, Yogesh Sawhney and Taranjit Singh Tony.

“I give you a guarantee that if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not grant J&K its statehood, the INDI Alliance, which is in opposition, will go full throttle to get it back, for you (people of J&K). We will use every forum of the Parliament – Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and if the need arises, we will even hit roads to register protest and ensure restoration of statehood to J&K. And if for some reason, BJP did not concede to this demand. Then our first job, after forming INDI Alliance government, which is in the offing, will be to grant J&K people their statehood,” he assured.

“This is your right and your future. It is an imperative as J&K cannot move forward without statehood,” he said.

Referring to “snatching of statehood as grave injustice”, Rahul said that presently, Jammu was being run by “people from other states and not local people.”

“Jammu was a central hub, which used to link Kashmir businesses and production to the rest of India. This role of Jammu was scrapped. The BJP government and LG broke the spine of small businesses, MSMEs of Jammu,” he said.

“As long as LG is there, outsiders only will get all benefits and contracts, J&K people will be sidelined. This is a reality. There was a reason that your statehood was snatched. They (BJP government) wanted that J&K should be run by outsiders and not the local people. It should be run through the Lieutenant Governor here so that its (J&K’s) prosperity should be erased. This assault on small businesses and MSMEs in J&K has been witnessed across the country. GST has been used to destroy Jammu’s businesses,” he alleged.

“GST and demonetisation are not policies but weapons and their target was to pave the way for people like Adani and Ambani. The wrong GST implementation and demonetisation led to the destruction of lakhs of small businesses across the country,” he said.

With regard to statehood of J&K, former AICC President said that in the history of India, many Union Territories were made states. “But this has happened for the first time that a state has been downgraded into a Union Territory (UT). This has occurred in J&K. It should have never happened in any other part of the country,” he said.

In addition to his focus on statehood, Gandhi criticized the central government’s economic policies, alleging that they favoured a select few business magnates.

“This government runs for Ambani and Adani,” he claimed, denouncing the GST and demonetization as tools designed to benefit these conglomerates.

Referring to migrant Kashmiri Pandits and refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, he said all the promises made to them by the Manmohan Singh government would be fulfilled after the formation of the National Conference-Congress government in J&K.

He announced, “Smart (electricity) meters will be removed and Punjabi will be granted official language status.”

Rahul questioned the Centre’s ‘Make in India’ project and alleged that GST and demonetization were used as weapons to pave the way for business tycoons like Adani and Ambani. He accused the BJP of using central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Income Tax (IT) to browbeat opponents.

“They (BJP) are talking about ‘Make in India’ and the defence industry but the reality is that all the contracts are going to people like Adani,” Rahul alleged.

He said the airports, ports, roads, defence weapons and even the apple produced in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh were controlled by Adani.

“Earlier, the Kashmiri apple was going through Jammu to the rest of the country. Now it is in the hands of Adani who also handles apples from Himachal Pradesh. Same is the position in every industry,” Rahul alleged.

“We have Adani tax on airports and Ambani’s mobile tax. If you want to move on the road, the tax goes to Adani, cereal produce is handled by Adani, the tax on weapons and bullets used by the Army goes to Adani. How long will this go on?” he asked.

He accused the BJP-led government of waiving loans worth over Rs 16 lakh Cr to 25 business tycoons like Adani and Ambani but no such concession was granted to Jammu traders or farmers, the youth who had taken education loans and the patients who spent hefty sums on their treatment.

“J&K assembly elections are meant for restoration of rights snatched from J&K people. Statehood will be the first step. It’s a guarantee on the part of INDI Alliance that it will be restored to you, sooner or later,” Rahul reiterated.

AICC incharge J&K Bharatsinh Solanki, Deputy Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Mukesh Agnihotri, Vikar Rasool Wani, AICC co-incharge J&K Manoj Yadav, Divya Maderna, All India Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba also spoke on the occasion besides others.

Bhalla said that people of Jammu and Kashmir would teach BJP a lesson for betraying them.