WASHINGTON, Sept 12:
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “massively opening up” space for terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, leading to an increase in violence.
Addressing students at the University of California in Berkeley, Gandhi said the decision by Modi to have a political tie-up with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was a “strategic mistake”.
“The PDP was the instrument that brought Kashmiri youngsters into the political process. And the day Narendra Modi made an alliance between the PDP and the BJP, it destroyed the PDP as an instrument that could bring youngsters into the political system.
“And the day he did that, he massively opened up space for terrorists in Kashmir and they came in. And you saw a massive increase in violence,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi said the intelligence personnel in Jammu and Kashmir told him that a large number of members of the PDP have suddenly gone towards the militants.
“When you take these strategic decisions to take a little bit of political advantage, you do tremendous damage to the country. Today the space in Jammu and Kashmir has been opened up, not only for the Pakistanis, but for other players in the region. And it is going to impose a massive, massive strategic cost on India,” said Gandhi.
Gandhi claimed that for nine years, he had worked behind the scene with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to improve the situation in Kashmir.
“The results were there for all to see as militancy was at an all-time low and tourism flourished in Kashmir,” he said.
After the 2014 elections, the PDP and the BJP tied up an alliance to form a Government in the State.
Rahul Gandhi said dynasties are commonplace in India, from politics to business, and stressed that a person’s capabilities are more important than pedigree.
His comments in the US set off a chorus of protest by the BJP in India with Union Minister Smriti Irani calling him a “failed dynast” and a failed politician.
Responding to a question from students, Gandhi said that he was “absolutely ready” to take up an executive responsibility if the party asked him to do so.
Responding to another question whether the Congress party was more associated with dynastic politics, Gandhi argued that India is being run by dynasties.
“Most parties in India have that problem So…Mr Akhilesh Yadav is a dynast. Mr Stalin (son of M Karunanidhi in DMK) is a dynast… Even Abhishek Bachchhan is a dynast. So that’s how India runs. So don’t get after me because that’s how they India is run. By the way, last, I recall, Mr Ambanis are running the business. That’s also going on in Infosys. So that’s what happens in India,” Gandhi said as he listed several prominent Indians born into famous families.
But, he said there were a large number of people in the Congress Party who were not from dynastic families.
“And I can name them in every State. There are also people who happen to have a father, or a grandmother or a great grandfather in politics. They do exist,” he said.
“The real question is whether the person actually is a capable and a sensitive person,” the 47-year-old Gandhi said.
Gandhi said around 2012, the Congress Party “stopped having conversations with the people”.
He said this could be a problem for any party which is in power for 10 years.
“The vision that we laid out in 2004 was designed at best for a 10-year period. And it was pretty clear that the vision that we laid out in 2004 by the time we arrived in 2010-11 was not working anymore,” he said.
“Somewhere around 2012, and I say this, a certain arrogance crept into the Congress party. And they stopped having that conversation.”
When asked if he wanted to take up an executive role in the Congress Party, he responded by saying, “I am absolutely ready to do that”.
However, he left the decision on his party.
He also said the BJP is implementing most of the programmes initiated during the Congress’ rule.
He criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy.
“Whereas I completely agree with their positioning as far as the (ties with) the US are concerned, I think they’re making India vulnerable because, if you look at Nepal, the Chinese are there. If you look at Burma the Chinese are there. If you look at Sri Lanka, the Chinese are there. If you look at Maldives, the Chinese are there,” he said.
“So on basic direction (of the foreign policy) I agree… friendship with the United States, close bond with United States. But don’t isolate India, because it gets dangerous,” Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi criticised also Modi’s economic policies, accusing him of causing “tremendous damage” to India’s economy with “reckless and dangerous” decisions like demonetisation and “hastily-applied” GST.
He said the November 8 demonetisation decision was taken without asking the Chief Economic Advisor and Parliament, which caused tremendous damage to the economy.
Demonetisation, he alleged, imposed a devastating cost on India.
“Ignoring India’s tremendous institutional knowledge and taking such decisions is reckless and dangerous,” he charged.
He said 30,000 new youngsters were joining the job market every single day and the Government was only creating 500 jobs a day.
“This does not include the massive pool of already employed youngsters,” he said. (PTI)
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