Congress president Malikarjun Kharge cautioned the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties to be prepared for “more attacks in the coming months, more raids and arrests” from the Central government, during his opening remarks at the alliance’s Mumbai summit on Friday.
He said that as the alliance gained more ground, the misuse of agencies would increase. “It has done the same in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bengal. In fact, last week, it was done in Jharkhand and in Chhattisgarh,” he added.
Exhorting his colleagues in the INDIA bloc, Mr. Kharge said that all sections of society were at the receiving end of BJP’s “authoritarian misrule”. “140 crore Indians are looking towards us with hope to relieve them of their miseries,” he said.
The Congress president listed out the various incidents of hate crimes, including the recent murder on train by a Railway Protection Force personnel. It was no surprise, Mr. Kharge said, that when people involved in gruesome rape were released and felicitated in one part of the country, it encouraged horrific crimes and parading of naked women in the other. “In Modi ji’s India the wife of a Kargil brave heart is also not spared,” he added. He also attacked the government, calling them out for devaluing the country’s federal structures and undermining the States.
“The BJP wants complete control on agencies and institutions — it is adamant on controlling the appointment of ED chief, the CBI Director, Election Commissioners or even judges of courts across the country,” Mr. Kharge remarked.
INDIA blocs’ strength, he claimed, was making the government “nervous” which was why he said “they suspend our MPs on flimsy grounds, file privilege motions against us, switched off our mikes, not allowed cameras to cover our protests and blatantly censored our speeches on Sansad TV.”
He ended his speech felicitating Indian Space Research Organisation scientists, athlete Neeraj Chopra and young chess wizard Praggnanandhaa.
