Gurdaspur: In a scathing attack on BJP-RSS’s “divisive” ideology, Punjab Pradesh Congress (PPCC) President and the party’s nominee for the Gurdaspur by-election, Sunil Jakhar, has said that communal harmony and democracy in India are facing grave threat in the hands of a “dictator” like Modi. 

Speaking at a meeting here on Saturday, Jakhar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had murdered “democracy”, with all voices of dissent being stifled. “He has been working like a dictator and democracy in the country is under a threat”, he said while addressing members of the Christian community on the occasion of Dusshera celebrations. 

Jakhar said that though the RSS, as such, was not the country’s enemy, its ideology of dividing India on communal lines was “dangerous” and not in the interest of secularism. Taking on Modi, Jakhar said that though the NDA government had taken several regressive steps like demonetization and GST, which had slowed the country’s growth, the communal agenda that it was pursuing is the “most dangerous”. 

“They want to divide the country on religious and castetist lines, even though all communities, Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Dalits, backward classes and others, are equal stakeholders in it”, he said, warning people against what he described as the “nefarious” designs of the RSS-BJP combine. Falling short of directly equating BJP with Raavan, Jakhar said, “Raavan signifies everything that is bad and evil. 

We consign him to flames on this day to send a message of the victory of good over evil. And I have come here to give the same message, as Congress alone can stop the BJP from pursuing its nefarious designs”. 

Reiterating that demonetisation and GST had broken the backbone of the common man, while the spiralling prices of essential commodities, including diesel, petrol and LPG, continued to cause them unbearable suffering, Jakhar said that senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's recent article had blown the lid off the lies that Modi and his cohorts had been spreading on the country’s growth and future. 

Stating that the outcome of this by-election would set the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Jakhar said that a resounding defeat of the BJP will send a clear message across the country that people will no longer tolerate a fascist and divisive regime. 

Referring to the recent Dera Sacha Sauda crisis, the PPCC president lauded the farsightedness of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and said that the preventive steps taken by him had saved the state from going Haryana’s way. “If Badal had been at the helm, Punjab would have burned like Panchkula”, he said.

The meeting, which was organized by PPCC General Secretary Salamat Masih, was attended by several Congress leaders, including MLA Barindermeet Singh Pahra.