Today, India stands at a critical juncture. I wanted to personally visit my brothers and sisters in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur to discuss the situation in the country and in their respective states. But considering the opinion of the doctors in the present situation, I am talking to you through this video message.

Today, the situation is extremely worrisome. Due to the short-sighted policies of the Central Government amid the chaos created by Corona, people are facing hardships caused by deteriorating economy, rising inflation and unemployment on one hand and on the other hand, our present day rulers, even after running the government for seven and a half years, are in a denial mode and instead of accepting their mistakes and correcting them, are busy trying to blame our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for the same.

I firmly believe that the post of Prime Minister is a uniquely dignified one and by blaming the history, one cannot wash off one’s own sins. While working for ten years as the Prime Minister of India, I always preferred to let my work speak for me. We never divided the country for our political gains, never tried to cover up the truth, never put the dignity of the country at stake and never endangered the honorable post. Braving every difficulty, we enhanced the prestige of India and the Indians at the international level.

I am contended that the false propaganda of BJP and its B-C teams of calling me Mute, weak and their accusations of corruption stand exposed with the country and today, the country is fondly appreciating the good work done by us during 2004 to 2014.

A few days back, an attempt was made by the BJP to defame the Chief Minister of Punjab, Sardar Charanjit Singh Channi and the people of Punjab on the pretext of ‘breach of Prime Minister’s security’, which cannot be considered a fair practice in any respect. Similarly, during the Peasant Movement, we witnessed on how attempts were made to defame Punjab and the Punjabiyat. All sorts of things were spoken against Punjabis whose courage, valour, patriotism and sacrifices are saluted by the whole world. As a true Indian born out of the brave soil of Punjab, I am pained by the whole series of incidents.

The present Central Government has no understanding of the economy. Due to their wrong economic policies, the country has been caught in the grip of economic crisis; the unemployment has reached its peak today throughout the country. Farmers, businessmen, students, women, all are in trouble, the country’s ‘Annadatas’ are desperately yearning for every single grain of food, social inequality has been rising in the country, the debt on the people has been increasing continuously and at the same time, the earnings are decreasing and as a result thereof, the rich people are becoming richer, while the poor are getting poorer. But this government is painting a rosy picture with its manipulative data.

Both, the policies and the intentions of this government are flawed. There is selfishness behind every policy, while hatred and division are at the root of intentions. To achieve its selfish motives, it is being catalytic in dividing people in the name of caste, religion and region and causing people to be at loggerheads with one another. The fake nationalism of this government is equally hollow and dangerous. Their nationalism rests on the British policy of ‘divide and rule’.

This government has no faith in the Constitution which is the fundamental base of our democracy. Constitutional institutions are being constantly weakened.

The issue is not only about the problem within the country, this government has proved to be a total failure on the foreign policy front as well. Chinese soldiers have been sitting inside our holy land for the last one year, but efforts are being made to suppress this whole matter. Old friends are constantly getting alienated from us, while our relations with the neighbouring countries are also getting deteriorated. I hope that now the ruling dispensation has come to a realization that the relations among countries do not improve by forcefully embracing the leaders, playing on swings with them or going for uninvited biryani.

The government should also understand that changing appearance does not change mental attitude. The Truth somehow finds its way to the fore. It is very easy to say lofty things, but equally difficult to put them into action.

At present, elections are being held in five states of the country including Punjab. There are big challenges before Punjab, and it is very important to address them properly. It is imperative to solve the problems regarding development of Punjab, farming and unemployment and this work can only be accomplished by the Congress Party. I appeal to the people of Punjab to overwhelmingly cast their valuable votes only in favour of the Congress party.

Translated from Hindi and Punjabi