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‘PM said big things…now enjoying power’: Rahul Gandhi on exodus of Kashmiri pandits
Congress' media head Pawan Khera on Thursday demanded that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government at Centre release a white paper on the plight of the minority community from Jammu and Kashmir during its eight-year rule in the region.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the “targetted killings” in Kashmir, and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at Centre for destroying the “good work done by the UPA” in the past.
Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said that this year, as many as 30 targetted killings took place in Kashmir. “The exodus of Pandits is increasing rapidly,” his post read.
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“The PM who spoke [about] big things before starting to rule is now enjoying his ‘power’, while Kashmiri Pandits remain refugees in their own country,” Gandhi tweeted.
The MP's tweet came shortly after his party demanded that the Modi government release a white paper on the plight of the minority community during its eight-year rule in the Union territory. At a press conference held earlier in the day, Congress' media head Pawan Khera slammed the saffron camp for only talking about zero tolerance, adding that its true meaning was exhibited by former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi.
Khera alleged that Kashmiri Pandit employees are being “threatened” to return to work in the Valley against their wishes.
The grand old party posted a short video of Khera on Twitter as well, in which the Congress leader says that if the target killings of 30 Kashmiri Pandits in the past 10 months along with the rapid exodus of them is “normal” to the BJP then they need to “open their eyes”.
“In a place like Shopian district where for 32 years, Kashmiri Pandits have been residing and never fled, are now compelled to leave. As many as 15 families escaped the area during this Diwali,” Khera said in the video.
He claimed that 70 ministers of the BJP government are carrying out outreach programmes in various regions of Kashmir, but not one of them has the courage to visit the camps of Kashmiri Pandits.
The Congress party's demands come recent reports that several Kashmiri Pandit families have left their village in Shopian out of fear and reached Jammu owing to multiple terrorist attacks recently.
On October 15, a Kashmiri Pandit, identified as Puran Krishan, was gunned down by terrorists in a very close range near his house in Chowdari Gund in Shopian district. Only three days later, two labourers - hailing from Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj district, were killed in Harmen region after terrorists lobbed a hand grenade there.
(With inputs from PTI)
