Jammu, Feb 18: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Working President Raman Bhalla on Sunday strongly condemned the freezing of bank accounts belonging to the Congress and the Youth Congress by the Income Tax department, just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Terming the move as an assault on democracy, Bhalla stated, “I think this is very unfortunate and a direct attempt to influence the elections in a democracy. Elections are going to be announced any time in a week or two and freezing the bank account of the primary opposition party before that is completely illegal and undemocratic. A pattern is visible, a design is visible that the Central Government is using each and every one of its agencies against the opposition.”
Addressing a public gathering at RS Pura, he said, “The BJP is having a nefarious plan to undermine democracy. This conspiracy is not against opposition parties, it is a conspiracy against democracy, and it is against elections. Congress stands for patriotism and sacrifice, service and dedication, loyalty and inspiration, for prosperity and happiness, compassion and justice, fearlessness and discipline and Congress stands for Indianness.”
The JKPCC leader said every Congress leader and worker is a symbol of this spirit. “They have to go ahead and do more work. We must remember that the Indian National Congress not only liberated the country but also laid the foundation for a prosperous India. We have created such an India, which is the largest and strongest democracy in the world,” he added.
Bhalla termed the 10 years of the BJP regime as “an era of great economic, social and political injustice in the country in which the rate of unemployment increased three times”. “The record unemployment has frustrated the youth as the number of unemployed has increased to 4 crore in 2022 from one crore in 2012 and the unemployment rate is the highest in 45 years. The unprecedented price rise in petrol, diesel, LPG, CNG, flour, pulses, rice and other essential commodities, imposition of GST on them has reduced the domestic savings to the lowest of fifty years,” he alleged.
Bhalla called upon the party functionaries to maintain close rapport with the public and highlight the “various failures” of the BJP government. He asked the local leadership of districts, blocks, wards and observers to get ready for polls.
“It is the biggest responsibility of all of us to take forward the atmosphere created by Rahul Gandhi Ji, by treading the most difficult of paths. The biggest challenge is to save the Constitution and democracy created by Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Bhalla added.
