Sonia says Centre undoing UPA’s good work in Kashmir

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday mounted an all-round attack on the BJP-led Central government for mishandling the Kashmir situation, forging social strife leading to increased violence against Dalits and Adivasis, while creating a “bubble of achievement” without any concrete change in the life of ordinary Indians.

She asserted that among the many claims that the government has made, the biggest concern is about the veracity of growth and GDP figures about which “questions are being raised by their own party leaders”.

Addressing the first meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party since the beginning of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Sonia began by accusing the Centre of undoing the painstaking work done by the previous UPA government towards improving the socio-political situation in Kashmir.

“Recent events in the Valley are tragic and pose a grave danger to the country. There can be no compromise on national security. Militants must be dealt with firmly. Yet we must ask ourselves, what has driven scores of young people to such levels of violence?” she asked. “Can we say in all honesty that we have responded with sincerity to their pleas?” the Congress chief asked. She said while the ruling party and the government are pushing confrontation with the judiciary, civil society and debate is being stifled, a false sense of achievement is being created.

Attacking the government on imposition of President’s Rule in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Gandhi said, “On the one hand the Prime Minister claims the Constitution to be sacred for his government. On the other, he has no compunction in trampling upon it, first in Arunachal Pradesh and then in Uttarakhand.”

She termed as “deplorable” the Centre’s inaction in helping farmers affected by acute drought, the despite Supreme Court’s intervention.

“The widespread distress in rural areas seems to be of no concern to the Modi government,” she charged, adding the government was starving funds to Panchayati Raj Ministry created by UPA which was “slowly being driven into extinction”.

The Congress chief said job creation has not only been at its lowest in six years but retrenchment of industrial workers and loss of tens of thousands of jobs in export manufacturing sector has added to the misery of the youth and the poor.

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