Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi here on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, accusing it of destroying all the democratic institutions in the country that protect constitutional rights.
Addressing a public meeting at Kambalakkad in the district on Wednesday in connection with the election campaign of United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Rahul Gandhi, Ms. Gandhi said the NDA government had been trying to destroy the institutions for the past ten years by using crooks.
Most of the media in the country would not say anything about it as the BJP had captured the media, Ms. Gandhi said. They would not speak about important issues related to the public such as the increasing price of essential commodities, declining growth rate of the country, or increase in unemployment rate, she said.Rather, they spoke about unrelated things to our life to cover the truth, she added.
‘Intimidating leaders’
The government was intimidating, harassing, and threatening the leaders who spoke for constitutional rights, she added. “Today the BJP leaders are even talking about changing the Constitution, which protects your rights and assures you equality. If you give another majority to the BJP in the election, they will change the Constitution,“ said Ms. Gandhi.
This must be the first time in the history of the nation that two sitting Chief Ministers have been jailed right at the time of the election, she said. Hemant Soren was a tribal Chief Minister and was harassed endlessly. Today, they put him behind the bars, she said.
The Congress leader said her brother, Mr. Gandhi, who represented the constituency, had fought against injustice and corruption, but they mocked him by calling him different names. “Moreover, they termed our father and grandmother who were martyrs for the country as traitors,” she said. However, he would not stop his fighting, she added.
‘Deal with BJP’
The Kerala government had made a secret deal with the BJP at the Centre and the only person they were attacking was Mr. Gandhi. Kerala Chief Minister’s name had come up in many scams but the BJP government was yet to take any actions against him. When the police had seized crores of rupees from a BJP leader, the State government failed to take any actions, she added.
