Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], September 28 : Targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said on Saturday that there's a Lieutenant Governor, who is an outsider and is ruling completely according to his own will.
Addressing a public rally here today, Priyanka said, "Why is our Prime Minister not coming to terms with the truth? Your statehood will not be gained by mere talk. That was your right and through that, you used to get a lot of things. The right to employment, the right to strengthen small businesses--all of that has been taken away from you."
"Ek LG hai jo pura apni manmani se raaj kar rahe hai. A rule of loot and remote control has been established. Your land is becoming a "land bank" for big industrialists. You are not able to do anything because you do not have your own government," Priyanka Gandhi added.
The Congress leader further said that the LG is an outsider and all the policies that are being made are being made for outsiders.
"Out of 450 mineral blocks, 200 blocks have been given to outsiders. Today there is huge unemployment in the country. 65 per cent of government posts are vacant in Jammu and Kashmir. During the Lok Sabha elections, we went to the whole country. Wherever we asked who all have got employment, not even one hand was raised in the crowd of thousands," Priyanka said.
Priyanka Gandhi also recalled her times during former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, when she and her brother and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi visited Kashmir, 4-5 days before her assassination.
"You may not know that 4-5 days before the assassination of my grandmother Indira ji, we were sitting at home, I was 12 years old, Rahul was 14 years old. Suddenly grandmother said, I feel like going to Kashmir, I want to see the Chinar trees that fall during autumn. So we both were children and were very happy to go with our grandmother. She brought us to Kashmir. For the first time, she took me to the temple of Kheer Bhawani...Then we came to Delhi and after 3-4 days she was assassinated and became a martyr... And since then, whenever I go to Srinagar, I definitely visit Kheer Bhawani Mata and remember my grandmother," she said.
"Nature has given you everything, beauty, resources. The nature of the world is that when someone has everything, then the one whose intentions are not right, tries to snatch it. In a way, the BJP leaders have made Jammu and Kashmir a pawn in their political chess. Policies are not made for here, the policies that are made for you are made to do politics," Priyanka added.
The first phase of Assembly polls was held on September 18 while the second phase of polling was held on September 25, in the six districts of Ganderbal, Budgam, Srinagar, and Jammu regions: Rajouri, Reasi, and Poonch.
The third and final phase of polling is scheduled for October 1, while the counting of votes will take place on October 8.
Assembly elections are being held in the Union Territory after a gap of ten years and are the first since the abrogation of Article 370.