Jammu, September 20
It was perhaps the biggest rally so far during the current Assembly election which Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, addressed at the Parade Ground in the heart of the city here today.
Audience of around 10,000 cheered and raised slogans when during her 25-minute speech Mrs Sonia Gandhi ridiculed the ruling National Conference (NC) and the BJP for all ills in Jammu and Kashmir. The party activists and other people from various parts of the Jammu district were waiting for Mrs Sonia Gandhi since 10.30 a.m. but she reached the venue of the meeting at 12.30 p.m. She was here in connection with the second phase of election for which polling will be held on September 24.
Mrs Sonia Gandhi, said that current Assembly elections were an opportunity for the people to get rid of the corrupt rule of the NC and if voted to power, the Congress would set a time-frame for removing poverty, unemployment and other problems of the people. “We” will set up regional development boards and a finance commission with statutory powers to ensure balanced development of all three regions of the state and equitable flow of funds so that no area remained neglected. She accused both the NC and the BJP of being responsible for discriminating against various regions of the state. She urged the people to vote in larger numbers in the second phase as had been done in the first phase. She warned that Pakistan would never succeed in its designs of destabilising the state by creating terror.
She said that she herself had been
monitoring
performance of the state governments where the Congress was in power and would do so in Jammu and Kashmir also.She said that the NC government, which was supporting the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, had promoted corruption and nepotism. The government had failed to control terrorism which had claimed hundreds of innocent lives. However, both parties were now trying to befool the people by blaming each other for various problems.
She said that the NC and the BJP were two sides of the same coin and both discriminated against the Jammu region and hardly any development had taken place here. She wondered why some elements have suddenly started raising the demand for the separation of Jammu during the elections after having remained mute spectator for the past six years.
She reiterated that the Congress party was not in favour of trifurcation of the state and would try to redress grievances of people of various regions by keeping the state united.
Mrs Sonia Gandhi said that the NC Government failed to solve the problems of the people during the period when terrorism was at its peak. The women were widowed by terrorists and children orphaned were without any help from the government. The Congress will provide for pension to such widows on priority and take steps for the rehabilitation of the victims of terrorism. She said that she understood the agony of such victims as in her own family she had seen the death of her husband, Rajiv Gandhi and her mother-in-law, Mrs Indira Gandhi, by terrorists. The people will feel the difference between the present regime and the Congress government, she said. The states where the Congress was in power were flourishing.
She said that the government should take effective steps for ending bloodshed in the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri and also in Doda, Udhampur and Kathua of the Jammu division.
She said that the Congress government would take steps to resettle the residents of the border villages who had faced the brunt whenever there was tension on the border. This experiment has successfully been done by he Congress government in Punjab, she said.
Steps will be taken to create a congenial atmosphere for the return of the Kashmir Pandits and others who were made to flee from the Kashmir valley by the terrorists.
Mrs Sonia Gandhi said that although the people had lost faith in politicians, but she promised that the Congress would
fulfill all promises in case it came to power in J&K. Power should not be given again to those who were responsible for the present chaos and other problems which the common people were facing.
She said that the present election was an opportunity for the people to reject the misrule and vote for the party of their choice.
Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, PCC Chief, recalled that Mrs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had addressed several public meetings at the same place where Mrs Sonia Gandhi was speaking today. This was after 18 years that any Congress president had addressed a public meeting here.
He said that in the past, the Congress contested the Assembly elections for improving its tally and this was for the first time that the party was in the fray to form a government which would be responsive to the problems of the people.
He alleged that the ruling National Conference on the lines of Pakistan was trying to scare the electorate so that they do not come out for polling in the second phase.
The Chhatisgarh Chief Minister, Mr Ajit Jogi, a former Governor, Mr Mahabir Prasad and the AICC secretary, Mr Satyajit Singh Gaekwad, also accused the NC of discriminating against the Jammu region. Mrs Ambika Soni, general secretary of the AICC, was also present.
