Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said while the attack on India and its institutions under the BJP-led government at the Centre was indirect in the rest of the country, Jammu and Kashmir was facing a direct assault.
Rahul, who is on a two-day visit to the Valley, the second after the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019, said the events of the last two years have hurt ordinary Kashmiris but he wants a relation of love and respect with them. Towards that end, he said statehood should be immediately restored.
Addressing a party event in Srinagar, Rahul said: “There is an assault on the whole country, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Bengal. The concept of India, its democratic framework, our Constitution is facing an assault. But the assault is direct on Jammu and Kashmir and indirect on the rest of India.”
He vowed to fight and defeat what he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ideology of violence that seeks to break India.
“I fight Narendra Modi and we will continue to fight. We will fight and defeat Narendra Modi’s divisive ideology, the ideology that divides India, the ideology of hate. This is because this (fighting hate) is not just the culture of Jammu and Kashmir but the culture of India.”
Rahul said the situation in country is such that they are not even allowed to speak on important issues in Parliament.
“There is not an assault on Jammu and Kashmir only but on the whole of India. Ghulam Nabi Azadji asked me to raise the issue (of Kashmir) in Parliament. But we are not allowed to speak in Parliament. I cannot speak about Pegasus, corruption, Rafale and unemployment in Parliament,” the Congress MP said.
“They are attacking all institutions of India, judiciary, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha. My friends from media cannot write the truth. They are being suppressed, face threats, they live in fear that if they write anything, their jobs will go. They cannot fulfil their responsibilities,” he said.
The Congress leader had made an abortive bid to visit Kashmir days after abrogation of the special status in 2019 but he and several other MPs were sent back by the administration.
The administration this time put no hurdles in Rahul’s visit, allowing his party supporters to converge in numbers and install hoardings at multiple places.
The Congress leader demanded restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood and the conduct of a “free and fair” Assembly elections. “Statehood should be restored and the democratic process — that is, election should be held,” he said.
Rahul then turned emotional and said how his visit was a sort of homecoming.
Rahul visits Mata Kheer Bhawani Temple in Ganderbal PTI
“My family lives in Delhi. Before Delhi we lived in Allahabad and before Allahabad, my family lived here (in Kashmir). I have not stayed here but I can say my family might have drank from the Jhelum. Your customs, your thoughts, what we call Kashmiriyat, a bit of it is in me also. I think I have come to my home,” he said.
“This was not a big state. Today it is not a state but Jammu and Kashmir’s strength lies in brotherhood, treating others with respect and love. That is your strength and Kashmiryat is its foundation.”
The Congress leader said Kashmiris could be won over with love and not hate.
“I want a relationship of dignity and love with people of Jammu and Kashmir, who have faced pain and suffering,” he said.
Rahul visited the Hazratbal Dargah in Srinagar and Mata Kheer Bhawani Temple in Ganderbal. He posted images of his visit on Instagram and said: “Prayed for peace and brotherhood at Hazratbal Dargah. The biggest strength of our country is our unity — there is no place for hate and fear here.”
