Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha & Senior Congress Leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad today launched a scathing attack on BJP and its leadership for lying to the nation about the excellent work done by Congress Party in the last sixty years. Mr Azad said that it is the height of untruth and hypocrisy on the part of BJP and its leadership to denounce and criticize the performance of Congress Party while taking full benefit of the heightened and growing stature of India at the international level.“Prime Minister and BJP must realise that we have handed over a very strong country to them which is on the threshold of becoming a world power, and this obviously could not be achieved with mere change of guard in Delhi or in a year”, said Azad.
Ghulam Nabi Azad was speaking in a number of public meetings held in Srirampur, Malegaon & Pune in the poll bound State of Maharashtra.Reacting to the barbs of the Prime Minister that nothing has happened in sixty years in this country, Azad asserted that this is not only utter negation of the landmark achievements of our people but also an insult to the people of the country who have been electing Congress Party repeatedly.“India has been acclaimed as an emerging power by the international community, our accomplishments in space research has become a cynosure for the entire world, and yet our Prime Minister is hammer & tongs to criticize the Congress Party”, said Sh Azad, adding that it is the strong foundation laid by our Congress Party which has taken this country to new heights.Azad said that the “mouse” which the Prime Minister claims to be fascinated with, he must know, is in fact a contribution of Congress Party and late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, irrespective of the fact that BJP and its entire leadership were deadly opposed to computers and digital technology at the time of its introduction.
Azad lashed out at BJP saying that it should compare India’s achievements with our neighbouring countries and the countries which attained independence with us and then keep criticising the Congress Party illogically and unreasonably. Referring to the recent ceasefire violations, Azad said that unprovoked and heavy Pakistani firing has caused untold hardships to our people living along the border areas in J&K, and that he salutes the bravery and determination of our security jawans who have retaliated Pakistani aggression with full force.
“Pakistan needs to be condemned in unequivocal and strong terms, as it has been targeting our civilian areas without any provocation; many innocent civilians have lost their lives and scores have got injured”, said Azad.
However, Azad came down heavily on the political leadership of the country which has not been able to fulfil its electoral promises of bringing an end to ceasefire violations as was claimed by it before the Lok Sabha Elections.Flaying the NDA Government for its wishy-washy approach to Pakistan, Azad asserted that it is the pressure of Congress Party which has forced the Central Government to act strongly and effectively, as it was not acting in a befitting manner ever since the ceasefire violations erupted in the month of June 2014.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minster, Azad asked is there a need to self-proclaim yourself to be a “strong” leader or is it your actions and policies which must unassumingly make you appear as strong leader.
Lamenting that our credibility has turned light ever since a voluble and glib talking PM has taken over, Azad said that all the indicators so far point to the reality of current leadership being weak and ineffective; adding that since the takeover of NDA Government, Pakistan has got emboldened to continuously resort to unprovoked ceasefire violations and China has intruded into our territory many times.
“China even showed the gumption to intrude into our territory when its President Xi Jinping was on an official visit to India and Prime Minister Modi was busy in extending “protocol” (which PM derided when Salman Khurshid accompanied President Zardari to Ajmer) to him, besides sharing ‘swing’ with him”, said Azad.
Azad, however, expressed happiness that Prime Minister is slowly gradually realising that sensitive matters like foreign policy and national security cannot be politicised, adding that Congress Party is fully behind the nation when our borders are being violated and acts of wanton aggression are being committed by Pakistan.“Congress Party is not guided by electoral calculations when it comes to national security and territorial integrity of the country”, said Sh Azad adding that we always believed in evolving consensus on the matters of national security and foreign policy and this shall remain our guiding principle. (KNS)