Congress on Tuesday said that it will bring all like-minded parties together to press for “tangible action” to thwart the “diabolical plan” of the Narendra Modi Government. The party accused the Centre of failing to take action against forces spreading hatred in the
country ever since the new dispensation at Centre assumed office.
Insisting that “tangible action” needed to be taken against elements, organisations and forces “besmirching India’s fair name” globally, AICC spokesman Anand Sharma said Congress is not satisfied with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement against the “extremely disturbing trend” of people resorting to vandalism to register contrarian views.
“Congress will reach out to all democratic, secular and progressive forces to defeat this diabolical plan,” Sharma said at the AICC briefing.
The Congress decision
to reach out to other opposition parties comes amid growing concerns over the Dadri lynching incident and protests by writers and
others on the issue of growing intolerance.
The Congress leader said that Jaitley has not spoken of any action against such forces. The fact is that “there has not been a single instance of firm and effective action” in the wake of such incidents as also controversial statements by leaders of the ruling party, Sharma said.
Another senior party leader Digvijay Singh quoted the Finance Minister saying that large stocks are lying in ports, but alleged that there are actually none there and termed it “misleading”.
Bringing Prime Minister in the line of fire, Sharma said whatever he has done “falls short of his Constitutional and moral obligations”. “In fact, the Prime Minister was forced to explain his stand by President Pranab Mukherjee expressing concern ....What the head of State said twice should be a wake up call for all of us,” he said.
Sharma said that for the Prime Minister and his Government, it is “time to stop talking and act”. He said that the Prime Minister travels abroad claiming credit for things which his government has not done, but he has not been able to protect the “India that he inherited”.
In a veiled attack on the PM, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi too said that some people achieve little bit and suddenly become arrogant and don’t talk to others with respect.
Speaking at a launch of a book ‘Dreaming Big: My Journey to Connect India’ by technocrat Sam Pitroda, Rahul said his father, late Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi and Pitroda, despised mediocrity and would not only get disturbed by it, but also attempt to “murder the mediocrity”.
“In our country people achieve little bit and suddenly they become arrogant. They don’t talk to people with respect. They have airs about them. I have not seen that in Sam. He is still the same,” Rahul said.
On the occasion, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recalled his association with Pitroda and said the journey from a small village in Odisha to become a leading technocrat in the country was indeed remarkable.