Priyanka Recalls Kashmir Trip With Indira Gandhi Days Before Her Assassination

The Congress will restore Jammu and Kashmir's statehood, party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Saturday while she slammed the BJP for using the Union territory as a pawn to "stir emotions" elsewhere in the country.

Ms Gandhi, the Congress's national general secretary, also criticised Lt Governor Manoj Sinha saying the current administration was a "puppet" government being run with a remote control.

"The Congress party has a vision for you and for Jammu and Kashmir. We want to restore your state's status. If our government comes to power, we will immediately restore your statehood. We will also revive the tradition of the Darbar Move," Ms Vadra told a public rally here.

Darbar Move refers to the bi-annual shift of government offices, including the secretariat, between Jammu and Srinagar in view of the harsh winter in J-K.

"We want to protect your rights, your rights to your land and your employment," said Ms Gandhi while speaking in support of the party candidate in Bishnah, Neeraj Kundan.

Hitting out at Amit Shah's remarks on the statehood issue, she said "I found it amusing when the home minister said in his speech that if you want statehood back, you must vote for us. But the fact is, they are the ones who took it away. It is like a thief who steals your TV and then says, 'If you want it back, ask me.' "They claim only they can return it. If our government comes to power, we will immediately restore your statehood," Ms Gandhi said hitting out at the BJP government for "downgrading" J-K into a Union territory.

She added "This is the peak of the country. Nature has given you everything-these resources, this beauty. From here came the great sages who spread faith, culture and teachings not only in India but in other countries too." But the BJP has snatched everything you have, the Congress leader added.

Recalling her grandmother Indira Gandhi's "deep bond" with Kashmir, she said, "Four or five days before Indira Gandhi's assassination, she told us she wanted to visit Kashmir and see the autumn leaves. She brought us to the Kheer Bhawani temple, and just a few days after returning to Delhi, she was assassinated.

"It was a call from her land and Mata that took her to Kashmir," she reminisced, emphasising her family's longstanding relationship with the region.

Ms Gandhi also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi during her speech, saying he was not serious about the concerns of the people of J-K.

BJP leaders have turned Jammu and Kashmir into a pawn in their political chess game as policies are not being made for the people of the region, she said.

"They are created to stir emotions across the country using you and serve political purposes," Ms Gandhi said.

"Even in Modi Ji's speech, there was no seriousness about the genuine concerns of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Fixing railway stations is not an achievement to boast about when the bigger issues of your rights, land, and employment are being ignored," she said.

"What really matters are the genuine concerns of the people of J-K. Why aren't those being addressed? Why aren't they focusing on the truth? When did the prime minister take away your state's status? The Congress leader also raised the issue of unemployment in her speech, claiming that half of the contracts meant for J-K had been awarded to outsiders. "You have been deprived of your voting rights, and small businesses are being crushed by large corporations. Why is Jammu and Kashmir lagging behind in employment? Why is there so much unemployment?" The BJP government, she said, has established a "system of loot, with a puppet government running things by remote control", she said.

"Land banks are being created, and your lands are being handed over to big industrialists, the same ones whom Modi Ji has favoured across the country. The same is happening here in Jammu and Kashmir," Ms Gandhi said.

Criticising the government on the Agnipath scheme, Ms Gandhi said, "They introduced Agniveer, a scheme that gives nothing to those who risk their lives on the borders and become martyrs. This is why all opposition parties are fighting and raising this issue repeatedly.

"This government and the prime minister are so arrogant that even though they know the scheme is wrong and not beneficial for the youth, they refuse to back down," she said.

She also touched on the drug addiction problem plaguing the region, saying that no BJP leader talks about it because they know the root cause is unemployment. "Due to joblessness, people are falling prey to the drug mafia," she said.

Ms Gandhi called on the people of Jammu and Kashmir to vote wisely, underlining that the Congress's vision includes the restoration of statehood, protection of land rights of locals, and employment opportunities for its people.

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