‘Last 8 years marked in India’s history for vicious attack against Constitution’: Surjewala to JP Nadda

The chief spokesperson of the Congress, Randeep Surjewala on Monday launched a sharp attack on BJP chief JP Nadda after the latter made disparaging comments in an ‘open letter’ to citizens of India, evidently in response to a joint statement released by the Opposition on April 16 slamming the Modi govt’s silence in the face of incidents of assaults on minorities.

“As India celebrates the 75th year of our independence, your quest to seek revenge against our glorious history and hard-fought freedom by half-truths and post truths can’t be the bedrock of a nation aspiring to lead in the 21st century. Last eight years will be marked in India’s history for a vicious attack against the Constitution, its ethos and every institution built to safeguard our democracy. BJP and its government have been and are at war with its own people, be it the youth, the women, the poor, the scheduled tribes, the scheduled castes, backwards and the minorities,” he said in a press conference held in Delhi on April 18.

He pointed out an abysmal decline in core indices:

· Growing income inequality- Income of 84% Indians declined

· 53% drop in income for the 15 crore poorest households. Contrast it to the surge in wealth of the richest 100 Indians to 57 lakh crore as against 23 lakh crore 2 years earlier.

· NSO Report reflects that the average income of the farmers is Rs 27 per day and the average debt per farmer is Rs 74,000

· Employment data reflects a grim picture of unemployment crossing 8-10% consistently for 3 years now. Neither there are jobs nor is there hope for job creation.

· We stand at 101^st in a list of 115 countries in Global Hunger Index.

· We stand at 142^nd out of 180 nations in World Press Freedom index

· We stand at 53^rd position in EIU's Democracy Index

Speaking about abject poverty in the country, Surjewala said, “Do you have any remorse about letting 23 crore Indians slip into poverty of which 4.7 crore Indians have slipped to extreme poverty? Your government has undone all the good work of the Congress when we lifted nearly 27 crore people out of poverty.

“Right under your government’s vigil, bank frauds to the tune of Rs 5,00,000 crore have happened. In last 8 years, the Modi government has written off almost Rs 11 lakh crore for its capitalist friends and fraudsters like Neerav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya,” he said.

“India’s debt has skyrocketed to Rs 139 lakh crore in FY2022. It means that in 67 years, all governments together took a debt of merely Rs 56.51 lakh crore and Modi Government has taken an additional debt of Rs 78.49 lakh crore. Is this your economic model?” he added.

“The Modi government has decided to put India on sale. Reckless privatization where profitable PSUs and Railways is being sold attacks social justice and promotes crony capitalists. Your government has built monopolies for only a handful of the Prime Minister’s chosen capitalist friends,” said Surjewala.

“It is not just Wholesale Inflation (WPI) that is raging at over 14.5% but prices of daily items are breaking the back of common man. The Modi government has robbed our people of Rs 26 lakh crore via fuel taxes. Compared to 2014 when petrol was at Rs 71.41/litre, diesel at Rs 55.49/litre and LPG at Rs 410/ cylinder prices today have skyrocketed to over Rs 105.41/ litre, Rs 96.67, Rs 1000/cylinder respectively. In less than a month the price of CNG has gone up by Rs 13.60/ kg and PNG is costlier by Rs 11.10/kg,” he said.

“There are over 8.7 lakh vacancies in the Central government alone and over 30 lakh in states and Centre combined. What explains over 1 lakh positions lying vacant in the Army? Your government is turning India's demographic dividend into a disaster. And it is these unemployed youth who are being drawn into violence and hate by the lunatic fringe elements,” said Surjewala.

“The recent unemployment numbers for March show that labour force participation rate shrank by 38 lakh. In March alone, 76 lakh industrial jobs, 41 lakh manufacturing jobs, 29 lakh construction jobs and 1 lakh mining jobs were lost,” he said.

“BJP Government has cheated our ‘Anndatas’ the most. Prime Minister promised to double the farmers income by year 2022 but their production cost only got doubled and the average income of farmers got reduced to paltry Rs 27 per day!” he added.

“When we lost 20 of our brave hearts, the Prime Minister refused to even name China while addressing the opposition. Even today, 2 years later Chinese continue to occupy important strategic places within our territory in Depsang Plains and Gogra Hot Springs. Your government has banned Chinese apps but continues to aid the Chinese economy. India-China trade crossed the $125 billion mark, and bulk of it was India’s imports from China that constituted $97.5 billion, exports from India to China slumped by 26%,” he said.

“Why did the BJP government release Masood Azhar and his allies in Kandhar? Why did your government allow ISI to come inspect Pathankot after the terror attack? Why did the PM go unannounced, unsolicited, without consulting even his cabinet to Pakistan in an unscheduled stopover?” he said, while talking about national security.

“Why was fugitive gangster Dawood’s wife allowed to visit Mumbai in 2016 with no inhibitions? Why were known extremists Mohammad Farooq Khan and Faizullah contest on a BJP ticket in Kashmir? There have been 1130 major terror incidents/killings, 322 civilian deaths due to terror incidents the sacrifice of 542 security forces in the last 8 years. Why has there been a steady rise in the number of terror incidents in the valley under your government?” he added.

“Your ideologues RSS’ anti Dalit views are visible all across your model of governance. Of the 17 BJP Chief Ministers not one is Dalit. You have reduced the budget for pre and post matric scholarships for Dalit. The percentage of targeted schemes for SCs out of the total central schemes and centrally sponsored schemes is just 4.4%. The allocations made for schemes that benefit Dalit women have shrunk from Rs.15,116.20 crores in 2021-22 to Rs. 11,958.95 crores in 2022-23,” said Surjewala.

“The National Scheme of Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education’ (NSIGSE) which provided Rs. 3000 each to SC and ST girl children to incentivise their enrolment after senior secondary has been discontinued,” he said.

“Manual scavenging continues to claim lives. 376 people died while cleaning sewers or septic tanks between 2015 and December 31, 2020,” he added.

“Why has your government not released the OBC report, which would benefit them? Why are minorities under constant attack?” Surjewala questioned.

“Your hollow, empty promises and blatant lies continue to haunt our people. Mr Nadda, for 53-years after independence the RSS refused to hoist the national flag. Your government has systematically weakened our most sacred text, the Indian Constitution and has weakened every institution. Your party and government continue to feed the masses the opium of communal polarization by inciting violence and hatred,” he said

“You actually do so to distract people away from the main issues that threaten their existence - price rise, unemployment and a shattered hope for the future. While parts of India are ravaged by riots and violence why is the Prime Minister so conspicuously silent? Why does he not denounce hatred no matter where it comes from? Why do perpetrators of hate get political patronage? Why are those who incite violence rewarded and most of all why are youth being incentivised to attack and abuse? Your attempts to perpetuate hate, stoke communal tension and divide are dangerous for our nation and our people,” said Surjewala.