Jammu: Hitting out at the standoff between Centre and Delhi Government, Congress on Sunday accused the Narendra Modi-led government of “adopting a dictatorial attitude” and asked Arvind Kejriwal to set his priorities right.
“Whatever is going on in Delhi is the clear indication of the dictatorial attitude of the Narendra Modi government, which is meddling with the affairs of a democratically elected government. But having said so, the Chief Minister should also set his priorities right,” Shobha Ojha, President, All India Mahila Congress told reporters here.
She noted that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal must focus on developmental issues that he had promised to the people of the city who gave him such a huge mandate.
When asked to comment on the statement of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar that ‘we have to neutralise terrorists through terrorists only’, Ojha said that it was unfortunate that such a statement came from a Union Minister.
On the issue of issuance of passport to separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the Congress spokesperson said that the stand of her party was clear that Geelani should not be given a passport.
“Our stand is clear on this and we maintain that he should not be given a passport. Congress has never been in favour of the separatists and national security is our primary concern,” she said.
The Congress leader alleged that incidents of cross border ceasefire violations have increased since the new government took over at the Centre.
“Where has that 56-inches chest gone which used to claim that we will give a befitting reply to the Pakistan side? Now you see that the incidents of cross border firing have seen a remarkable increase in the past one year,” she said.
Commenting on the recent remarks of Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi that ‘the people who want to eat beef must go to Pakistan’, she said that it was “very unfortunate”.
“They won elections on the issue of development, but now they have taken a U-turn on every such issue, be it the black money or others… This government is a total failure… Now they want to decide what the people of the country should eat, what they should wear and what they should watch… This is really unfortunate,” she said.
Accusing BJP of cheating the people of Jammu region, Ojha said that the people in Jammu who voted for the party were now feeling disenchanted.
“Be it the issue of AIIMS, or the artificial lake, the people of Jammu have been befooled by the BJP which has compromised on everything just to be in power with the PDP,” she said.
Ojha also accused the Central Government of hatching a conspiracy to saffronise education by appointing “unqualified” people with RSS background to head premier educational institutions across the country.
“Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani is diluting the education sector of the country by appointing unqualified people who come from RSS background to head various top educational institutions across the country,” she said.
Ohja accused Irani of pursuing a hidden agenda to rewrite history to suit the RSS ideology.
“From the past one year it has become evident that the Narendra Modi government is working to disintegrate the education sector in the country, the recent incident when three directors of IIT Mumbai were shortlisted in few hours and which led to the resignation of the Chairman Anil Kakodkar is a glaring example of how this government is playing politics with the premier educational institutions in the country,” she said.
Ohja accused Irani and the Minister of State for HRD Ram Shankar Katheria of misguiding people of the country with fake degrees.
“We all know that Smriti Irani has shown a fake degree, she even claimed that she had a degree from Yale University which turned out to be just a course she attended there as an MP. The MoS in the HRD in the present government is also facing the charges of producing a fake BA degree,” she said.
Ohja also accused the Modi government of hatching a conspiracy to disband the University Grants Commission (UGC).
“There is a conspiracy going on to disband institutions like the UGC, this government is hell bent on rewriting the history to suit to the RSS ideology,” she said.
“Be it the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), midday meal scheme or the compulsory education schemes launched by the previous Congress-led government, this government has reduced the budget allocation of all such schemes,” she said.
Targeting the HRD minister, Ojha said Irani has entered into a ‘cold war’ with the heads of several educational institutions.
“She had entered into a cold war with the Vice Chancellor of the Delhi University, but the President of India rejected her allegations against the Vice Chancellor which was a big slap on the face of the government and the department,” she said.
“Be it IIT Mumbai, IIT Delhi or the Delhi University, she is trying to dictate her terms on all of them, this is part of the bigger conspiracy to saffronise the educational setup of the country. This is a conspiracy to communalize the education in the country,” she said.
Congress today accused Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani of lacking vision and trained guns at the Narendra Modi-led government for “massively” slashing the budget for education sector.
“A lady (Smriti Irani) with no vision and HRD minister with no vision can lead to demographic disaster for our country,” said All India Congress Committee Spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi.
She also accused the HRD ministry of courting controversies in past one year rather than focusing on solidifying the country’s education sector.
Citing the appointment of Baldev Sharma, former editor of RSS mouthpiece as Chairman of National Book Trust, she accused the government of pushing for saffronisation of education wherein RSS loyalists were being appointed as heads of premier education institutions.
Chaturvedi further said the BJP Government had slashed the budget for elementary education, secondary education and higher education by Rs 10,186 crore, 1,422 crore and Rs 1,479 crore respectively.
Senior Vice President PCC Sham Lal Sharma, Ravinder Sharma-Chief Spokesman, Vice President PCC Kanta Bhan and President JK Mahila Congress Indu Pawar were present on the occasion.