The State Youth Congress on Thursday afternoon staged a stir against the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre at Congress Bhawan, Dehradun, protesting against the Narendra Modi Government’s all-round failure to live up to the promises made in the run-up to 2014 general election. The party’s youth activists led by the Chief Minister Harish Rawat’s son Anand Rawat went on with the stir for around two hours, braving rains. They demanded immediate restoration of the special category status the state enjoyed after it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh.
Anand Rawat alleged that Modi has nothing new to offer. He is rolling out Congress' schemes and policies in new packages, he said. "Narendra Modi has just changed nomenclatures of some Congress-formulated schemes to appropriate the credit,” said Rawat. State coordinator for the party, Amarjeet Singh said that BJP has failed to deliver in its maiden year in office.
The protest began with a street play in which the actors played Modi and other important BJP leaders like l K Advani and Sushma Swaraj. The Prime Minister on Wednesday launched the Smart Cities Mission under which the state governments will pick specific cities from the respective states and turn them into smart cities. Dehradun has been short-listed from Uttarakhand for the mission.
Accusing Modi of stealing this plan from Congress, Rawat said that their party had conceived the plan. "It was the UPA which proposed the plan," he said Suryakant Dhasmana, the newly elected vice-president of state Congress’s planning and policy cell also took his turn to hit on Modi and BJP. "We re-started the Char Dham Yatra. It is a huge success. We delivered on our promise. Shorn of issues, BJP is now focused on adulteration test in the state," he said.