Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha) Shri Rahul Gandhi addressed the media in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir on August 22, 2024.

Addressing the journalists, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge said that we have just come here after holding a meeting with the workers. No meeting is complete without media viewing, so we want to tell that we and Rahul Gandhi ji have held our first meeting here - how should we fight the upcoming elections, what are the views of our workers, we have to take the next step after consulting them and what will be the alliance, for that also, whatever advice our local leaders will give, we are working on that and our people will be successful in that. Rahul ji is interested that we all fight unitedly in Jammu and Kashmir, we want to move forward by taking along even the opposition and we have also got success in that.

When INDIA Alliance was formed, Rahul ji called all the leaders and talked to them and we also saw the result of that and you all know that INDIA Alliance stopped a dictator from coming to power with absolute majority. This is a huge success of the INDIA Alliance and today they are worried and that is why you must have seen that when there was opposition to two-three laws which they wanted to pass, they took them back or took it for Joint Parliamentary, when everyone strongly opposed it, then it went to the Joint Parliamentary Committee and the first person to raise voice against it was Rahul Gandhi ji.

Second- Lateral entry, that is, everything is in their hands, they have been doing this even before, because you, that is, the people of the country, had given them a brute majority. Taking advantage of that brute majority, they did a lot of wrong things. Three laws against farmers, four laws against laborers, every law which does not benefit the people, they passed those laws, did not send them to the Standing Committee, did not send them to the Parliamentary Joint Committee, did not send them to anyone. They did that work and even the promises they had made for Jammu and Kashmir before the elections, they did not fulfill even a single promise.

All the slogans, in fact, he himself said it, his home minister Shah said that giving two crore jobs and MSP to farmers and bringing 15 lakh rupees of black money from abroad and putting it in everyone’s pocket, all these were jumlas, he himself said it. Now Jumlas, here also he has given only jumlas. That is why our Party has decided, under the leadership of Rahul ji, we have taken a step that we will get statehood for Kashmir, we have promised to work for it, for statehood and this, as Rahul ji had just told, till date whatever UTs have been formed in the Constitution, have been converted from UTs to statehoods, states have been formed, but no UT has been formed from state. They had Jammu-Kashmir State, they made it a Union Territory and after making it, no one has any right.

Today, there is no council, no assembly, no panchayat, no municipality. The democracy that has been prevailing here for so long, instead of protecting that democracy, they have learned to break it and elections have not been held till date. They have announced elections now, they have done so because the Supreme Court had directed that elections should be held within September, that would have opened their eyes and today they have announced and moved towards elections. But I want to tell you one thing that no matter how much you try, BJP or Modi sahab, you are never going to succeed in this and you cannot suppress the people, you cannot suppress their voice also and the voice in democracy is of the people and we will always support the voice of the people and will be with the people and the people of Jammu and Kashmir have hopes, aspirations, we will fight shoulder-to-shoulder with them. This is our promise.

That is why we have come to you to tell you this and especially whatever is the matter of ‘Jal, Jangal or Jameen’ we want to fight for all of them and if they ever want to snatch things from you, now we will not let them do so. We are standing with you.

Unemployment is increasing so much. Lakhs of vacancies are vacant here in the state, they are not filling the vacancies. The vacancies that are filled are being made temporary, on daily wages, on contract basis. So this kind of politics is going on here, this kind of politics was started here by Modi ji. People may tolerate once or twice, but if there is excess of something, then people stand up against it.

So, I will just say that today we are going everywhere, in this election too, first in Jammu-Kashmir, then in Haryana, then in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, Rahul Gandhi wants to go everywhere. He wants to reach there first and wants to put forward the views of the Party. So, if our government comes to power, we will work towards job creation, will make every effort to bring investment and will make every effort to save horticulture, tourism and all other small-scale industries. And today, with the coming together of our secular forces, we will work towards restoring peace here again. I would also request Rahul ji for this, he will put forth his views here and we want that peace, prosperity, happiness, all these things should once again be established here in Jammu and Kashmir. There is infiltration going on at the border, terrorism is going on. Earlier, they used to say that if Article 370 is abolished, then terrorism will go, this will go, that will go, prosperity will come. But prosperity never came.

Unemployment is increasing, along with that price rise is also happening, inflation is increasing and their atrocities are also increasing in the country. So that is why, we want that our Party will make every effort to bring its administration here in a proper manner and we are with you. We have come to say this. Now Rahul Gandhi ji will talk to you.

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- Thank you Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji, I would like to welcome all of you here today. It is our priority in the Congress Party and also in the INDIA gathbandhan to restore statehood to Jammu & Kashmir as soon as possible. We had expected that this would be done prior to the elections, but okay! Elections have been declared. It is a step forward and we are hoping that statehood would be restored as soon as possible and the rights of the people of Jammu & Kashmir, democratic rights will be restored to them. I said earlier in the meeting that this is the first time since Independence that a state has become Union Territory. This has never happened before.

Union Territories have become states, but it’s the first time that a state has become Union Territory. So, we are very clear in our national Manifesto as well that it is a priority for us that the people of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh get their democratic rights back. It’s always a pleasure for me to come here, I have a very deep relationship with the people of Jammu & Kashmir and my message to the people of Jammu & Kashmir is, however we can help you; the Congress Party is always there. We understand that you are going through a very difficult period, a tough period and we want to remove violence. As I said in ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, we want to open a shop of love in the market of hatred, with respect and brotherhood.

Thank you!