Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday accused the PM Narendra Modi-led government of crushing the dreams of the youth, avoiding questions in Parliament and pushing young people towards protests through its policies.
Speaking at Indira Bhavan after Modi’s Independence Day address, Kharge said peaceful protest was a constitutional right and students demanding their rights should not be branded anti-national.
Also read | BJP accuses Sonia Gandhi of unease during Vande Mataram at Independence Day event, Congress reacts
“The government’s wrong policies have pushed the youth into a dark road,” Kharge said, adding that the government had “neither the funds nor the ideas for schemes that drive the nation forward.”
Deep Dive
What accusations did Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge make against the Modi government?
Why did Kharge question the absence of Modi and Amit Shah in Parliament regarding police actions against students?
How did the Congress party justify their actions during the Vande Mataram incident at the Independence Day event?
He also questioned why Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah did not respond to Opposition concerns over police action against students during protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
“I and the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, have been continuously raising questions about the brutality inflicted on students and youth, but the Prime Minister and the Home Minister have not come to the House. On top of that, Amit Shah says that Parliament was not in session, so I did not come to the House, but I was sitting in my chamber and watching and listening to everything. The question is: Did the public send you to sit in your chamber?” Kharge said. He also accused the BJP of taking credit for work done during previous Congress governments.
{{/usCountry}}“I and the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, have been continuously raising questions about the brutality inflicted on students and youth, but the Prime Minister and the Home Minister have not come to the House. On top of that, Amit Shah says that Parliament was not in session, so I did not come to the House, but I was sitting in my chamber and watching and listening to everything. The question is: Did the public send you to sit in your chamber?” Kharge said. He also accused the BJP of taking credit for work done during previous Congress governments.
{{/usCountry}}Also read | Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge skip Independence Day celebrations again, spark 2024 reminder
“Development in country is because of Congress”
“The development you see in the country today is because of Congress. Congress has 90% contribution in development you witnessed in the country today. We improved people’s financial condition, not change names. But, these people just take credit. This will not go on for long,” Kharge said.
“We brought Right to Food, Right to Education, Right to Work but the current government has not done any such work. Yet some people have the habit of taking credit for the work they have not done. The history records everything,” he added.
Kharge also raised the issue of alleged theft of offerings at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, questioning the government’s handling of the matter and pointing out that the temple trust had been appointed by the Prime Minister.
He also alleged interference by the government in key institutions, including the Election Commission, Enforcement Directorate, CBI and the media, and claimed that people aligned with the RSS were being appointed to several educational institutions as well as organisations such as ISRO and DRDO.
Meanwhile, the BJP on Saturday accused Congress leader Sonia Gandhi of objecting to the singing of the full version of Vande Mataram at the party’s Independence Day event. However, the Congress denied the charge, asserting that there was no attempt to stop the singing of the full version of the national song and Gandhi was only asking for a chair for party chief Mallikarjun Kharge as he was standing for a while.
Sharing video footage on X, BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh said, “Mother, son and national president (of the Congress) seem to be upset by the rendering of full Vande Mataram.” Certain mindsets never change from pre-1947 to post-1947, the senior BJP leader added.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh categorically denied that there was an attempt to stop the singing of the song’s full version. “As the Congress president was standing for a long time, Soniaji was asking for a chair for him,” he said.