Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and senior Congressman Ghulam Nabi Azad said Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "insulting" Indians by frequently referring to Pakistan.
"Pakistan is dead wood. Even Kashmir police can defeat Pakistan. The PM comparing Pakistan with India is an insult to Indians. The PM shouldn’t scare Indians with Pakistan. Are we so weak that we have to get scared of Pakistan? This is just polarisation and diversion," Azad told reporters here.
During a recent speech at Tumakuru, PM Modi dared Congress, its allies and detractors of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to protest against atrocities on religious minorities in Pakistan. "In the Rajya Sabha, the government said it had no authentic statistics on the persecution of religious minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh," Azad pointed out.
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He said the BJP has resorted to polarizing the people of India as it has not fulfilled any promise it made. “There were three major promises - Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts of the poor, 10 crore jobs in five years and doubling farmers’ income. The only option left for this government is to polarize people in the name of religion. I salute the people of India. They have realized they’re being used to win elections,” he said.
The Modi administration abrogated Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir with an eye on the Maharashtra and Haryana elections. “They lost in both the states. They brought the CAB for the Jharkhand and Delhi elections. They’ve lost in Jharkhand and they’ll lose in Delhi as well,” he said.
A slew of controversial legislations have resulted in India’s isolation globally, he charged. “I totally agree with former foreign secretary and NSA (Shivshankar Menon) that India has been isolated since Article 370 was abrogated. We’re being abused left and right - the UN has gone against us, so has the German Chancellor, the French president and media across the globe.”
Azad refuted the government’s charge that the Congress was behind the anti-CAA protests. "If the Congress was so strong to influence global opinions, then the BJP would have won just two seats," he said. "The entire country is against this."
He also accused the BJP of misleading the country on the NRC. "The PM says the NRC hasn’t been discussed since 2014. But the President’s address to Parliament during the budget session and the BJP’s 2019 election manifesto says the NRC will be done,” Azad said.
According to the Congress leader, the CAA is discriminatory as it is based on religion. "If Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh are Islamic nations, then Sri Lanka and Bhutan are Buddhist. Why can’t Hindus of Sri Lanka, Christians of Bhutan, Rohingyas of Myanmar or Ahmadis of Pakistan come," he asked. "The Congress isn’t against any religiously persecuted people from any country," he clarified.
Asked about the BJP’s claim that the Congress was fanning fear among Muslims in the country, Azad said, "Well, if it wasn’t for the Congress, then PM Modi would have put thousands (of Muslims) in jail."
