Senior Congress leaders on Monday lamented what they called the loss of social harmony and threat to the idea of India under the Narendra Modi government.
Speaking on the sidelines of a book launch in the city on Monday, former Union Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said the idea of India itself is being taken for granted and is under attack on account of all the “horrible incidents” happening around the country.
Mr. Khurshid was participating in a panel discussion organised by the All India Professionals’ Congress on ‘India’s past, present and future’. The other participants were national spokesperson for the Congress Sanjay Jha and author Sudheendra Kulkarni. The panelists debated a wide range of subjects, including the 2G scam, Lokpal Bill, triple talaaq and the recent cases of mob lynching across the country.
The Congress leaders said they were all for a dialogue between the Congress and Bharatiya Janta Party if it results in an improvement of the polity. But it cannot happen if the BJP puts preconditions on the dialogue. “If they place conditions before the commencement of any dialogue that is the end of a conversation. If elections were being held today, there is no doubt we would emerge victorious,” he said.
The leaders criticised the Modi government’s foreign policy, and said the government cannot weaken the Pakistan civilian government by not engaging with them. “We must acknowledge that different powers that be need to be engaged to find solutions to our bilateral problems.”
Emphasising the need for dialogue between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Congress, Mr. Kulkarni said, “The multiple acts of lynching against the minorities in the past four years have given India a bad reputation around the world. Some very senior members of the RSS do not insist on the Uniform Civil Code.
“If U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea President Kim Jong-un can talk, why can’t the Congress and BJP talk to each other to improve the environment in this country?”