Samba, June 01: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Working President Raman Bhalla who contested from the Jammu-Reasi Parliamentary on Saturday asserted that the INDIA bloc, of which his party was an important part, would form the next government at the Centre and that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA was “on its way out”.
“The INDIA coalition will form the government after results are out on June 4. The NDA will be voted out,” Bhalla claimed while addressing a public meeting here.
Reacting over Congress’ scepticism over exit polls and decision not to take part in TV debates on the post-poll surveys, Bhalla said, “You tell me who are the people conducting these exit polls and which one of these should we take seriously? The fact is that we have been on the ground, among people, and we have a first-hand sense of the public mood.”
He expressed confidence that the people of India have definitely voted for change and asserted that the “festival of democracy” will be considered successful only when democratic powers defeat the dictatorial ones.
Bhalla claimed people want to see the Congress’ guarantees fulfilled. “This time the country has supported and sided with ‘Yuva Nyay, Kisaan Nyay, Nari Nyay, Shramik Nyay and Hissedari Nyay. He said Congress is committed to the welfare of farmers, youngsters, workers, women, Dalits, tribals and backward classes after BJP pushed them into the swamp of injustice, oppression and inequality in the last ten years,” he said, adding that Congress is committed to brighter, better and just future for them.
He described the BJP government as an “abject failure”, saying the government has lost the trust and confidence of the people, who are “highly dejected due to misgovernance, nepotism, favouritism and lack of development”. He particularly referred to the “disillusionment” of the people in Jammu and said the “self-centric” BJP has betrayed their mandate and had nothing to claim except delivering broken promises.
The JKPCC leader accused the government of showing intolerance to dissent but remaining inaccessible to people, who are left in the lurch. “The BJP has been emphasising on double engine government – same party rule at the Centre and in J&K – claiming that it would ensure faster development but reports showed the J&K government as a failure on almost all indicators. Whenever the government is asked about it, it has expressed its ignorance. This shows that BJP government is not serious about meeting the basic needs of the people,” he said.
He said Congress has vigorously fought the BJP’s “wrong and anti-people policies”. It is the Congress Party which has served and shall continue to serve the people, he said.
Bhalla also slammed the BJP for dividing and downgrading the J&K into UT to “serve its political agenda”.
“Congress capably fought against the BJP vendetta politics and continuously highlighted the price hike, rising unemployment, lack of development, misuse of agencies against the opponents at every appropriate forum to make BJP accountable and answerable to people,” he said.
He accused the Central government of ruining the economy and destroying the business culture of the country. “The BJP government plunged J&K into unprecedented political uncertainty by failing to maintain law and order, adopting anti-people policies and indulging in politics of hate,” he said.
