Launching a scathing assault on the BJP-led NDA authorities on the Centre on Saturday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the Congress Working Committee (CWC) alleged that India has earned the “label of an electoral autocracy” beneath this authorities.
The occasion stated there was a speedy deterioration in inner and exterior safety of the nation and argued that there’s “unbridled and unchecked” “state-sponsored attacks” on individuals from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes communities, and minorities and ladies.
Arguing that the nation is going through a number of challenges, the CWC stated the Narendra Modi authorities has failed in coping with these challenges.
The occasion stated the “financial situation is in a terrible shape”, as there’s a continued slide within the financial system. In her deal with to the CWC, Sonia stated the “only answer the government seems to have for economic recovery is selling off national assets built with great effort over the decades. The public sector has had not just strategic and economic objectives — it has had social goals as well as, for instance, empowerment of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and development of backward areas. But all this is in jeopardy with the Modi government’s single-point agenda of ‘becho, becho, becho (sell, sell, sell).”
There was no particular point out of the Air India stake sale.
“In order to hide the precarious state of its finances, the Modi government has launched a fire sale of the assets built in this country over 70 years. It is widely believed that the most valuable among these assets in ports, airports, petroleum, power and telecommunications will be sold to select business houses that are cronies of the Modi government,” the CWC stated in its decision.
The CWC has determined to carry a “public awareness campaign” within the second half of November to protest the rise in costs. It additionally determined {that a} coaching programme for leaders and staff in any respect ranges needs to be performed to make them conscious of the occasion’s “ideology, policies, expectation of a Congress worker, grassroot messaging, election management, failure of present government and countering the propaganda.”
Lashing out on the Centre, Sonia stated, “(The) economy continues to be a cause of great concern in spite of the government propaganda to make us believe that it is not.” The rise in costs, then again, is making life insufferable for individuals throughout the nation, she stated.
Leaders arrive for the CWC assembly (Express photograph by Praveen Khanna)
The Congress president stated there was a sudden spurt in killings in Jammu and Kashmir. “Minorities clearly have been targeted. This must be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” she stated.
Sonia additionally accused the Centre of getting broken the broad home consensus that at all times existed on overseas and neighbourhood coverage. She stated the Prime Minister is reluctant to take the Opposition into confidence in any significant method. “Foreign policy has become a diabolical instrument of electoral mobilization and polarization,” she stated.
A decision handed by the CWC stated the “assault on democratic institutions completes the sad and shameless narrative of the Modi government.”
“India is no longer regarded as a democracy; it has earned the label of an electoral autocracy,” it said. “Parliament has been contemptuously disregarded. The judiciary has been debilitated by not filling vacancies in the courts and tribunals. Independent watchdog bodies like the Information Commission, Election Commission and the Human Rights Commission have been debased and rendered virtual ciphers. The media has been threatened into meek submission through raids and false cases. Non-government organizations (NGOs) have been intimidated and their welfare activities have been halted.”
The authorities’s businesses, it stated, have been broadly misused to suppress individuals’s voice. “The government has surreptitiously used malicious spyware to intrude into the lives of the people. Every aspect of democracy has been diminished,” it added.
Congress leaders assembled for the CWC assembly in New Delhi (Express photograph by Praveen Khanna)
Referring to the persevering with border standoff with China, the CWC stated that “despite multiple rounds of talks, China has not vacated Indian territory; nor have we been able to recover our old positions.”
“The aggressive posture of China and the unabated infiltrations by Pakistan have resulted in a dramatic deterioration of the security of Jammu & Kashmir. After the change in regime in Afghanistan and the takeover by the Taliban, the situation is even graver, but the Government remains oblivious or in deep slumber,” it stated.
On J&Ok, it stated, “Terrorist attacks have increased and both security forces and innocent citizens have lost their lives. The administration of J&K, or whatever goes in the name of administration, is incompetent, paralyzed and in a shambles. The way forward is restoration of full statehood and holding democratic elections.”
The occasion additionally slammed the federal government for refusing to interact with the protesting farmer teams and criticised notifications issued by it, empowering the “officers of Central Security Forces to search any place and arrest, as also search any person in the purported exercise of powers to prevent a cognizable offence under any Central Act.”
“This is a dangerous encroachment on the exclusive power of the states and powers of the state police. The Congress Party will consult all stakeholders and other political parties as well as state governments and formulate a course of action to compel the Modi Government to repeal these notifications,” it stated.
In a separate decision, the CWC slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of “shamelessly” refusing to take away Ajay Mishra as Union Minister of State for Home Affairs within the wake of the “brutal mowing down of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri”.