In an opposition parties' meeting congress chief Sonia Gandhi attacked Modi Govt on NRC & CAA issues. She charged that these two issues were the immediate cause of the “nationwide spontaneous protests” but these “reflect widespread frustration and pent up anger, which is now out in the open”.
Sonia Gandhi also accused PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of misleading the nation on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. “The Government has let loose a reign of oppression, spreading hatred and trying to divide our people along sectarian lines. The country is facing unprecedented turmoil", she said. She referred to contradictions in statements of the two government leaders and charged them with continuing their provocative statements, “insensitive to the state suppression and violence” that is increasingly becoming commonplace. “The nation has watched in horror at the BJP-orchestrated assault on JNU coming so soon after what happened in Jamia Millia Islamia, BHU (Banaras Hindu University), Allahabad University and AMU (Aligarh Muslim University) and other institutions of higher learning in other parts of the country,”.
Twenty opposition parties attended the meeting. The glaring absentees from the opposition camp included Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, DMK led by MK Stalin, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party and the Shiv Sena.
The real issue facing India today is the collapse of economic activity and slowing growth and development, affecting all sections of society, especially the poor and the disadvantaged, the Congress president said.
