Will join hands with like-minded parties to defend Constitution: Sonia Gandhi
2 min read . Updated: 11 Apr 2023, 01:10 PM IST
Premium- Sonia Gandhi launches scathing attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government in an Op-Ed piece
Veteran, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has taken a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government and accused him of "systematically dismantling" the three pillars of democracy--legislature, democracy, and judiciary.
The former Congress party president in an Op-Ed column in The Hindu said her party will take its message directly to people and join hands with like-minded political parties to defeat the Modi government in the upcoming state and national assembly elections.
"The Congress party will make every effort to take its message directly to the people, as it did in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, and will join hands with all like-minded parties to defend the Constitution of India and its ideals," Gandhi asserted.
She alleged that the prime minister "ignores" the rising tide of hatred and violence egged on by BJP and RSS leaders and has not once called for peace or harmony or acted to reign in the offenders.
Further, launching a scathing attack against PM Modi, she said his statements either ignore the most pressing issues of the day or are "platitudes and verbal gymnastics" to distract from these matters.
Referring to Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha, Sonia Gandhi said the Centre has resorted to unprecedented measures -- expunging speeches, preventing discussions, attacking members of Parliament, and finally, disqualifying a Congress MP at a "lightning speed".
As a result, the budget of ₹45 lakh crore of people's money was passed without any debate, Gandhi added.
PM Modi makes grandiose statements about truth and justice even as allegations of financial fraud against his "chosen businessman" are ignored, Interpol withdraws a notice against fugitive Mehul Choksi, and the convicted rapists of Bilkis Bano are set free and go on to share a stage with BJP leaders, Sonia Gandhi added.
On the media's independence getting compromised, Sonia Gandhi said evening debates on television news channels have emerged as slanging matches to shout down and silence those who question the Centre.
"No doubt, an army of lawyers from the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) stands ready to harass any platform which publishes criticism of the great leader," she claimed.
On border tension at the Indo-China border, Sonia Gandhi said, "We have the spectacle of the prime minister in denial about Chinese infiltration, the government blocking discussion in Parliament, while the external affairs minister adopts a defeatist attitude when it comes to China, which is further emboldened in its intransigence".