Terming the BJP-PDP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir as an “opportunistic alliance”, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that suffering of people of the state has made him “sad”.
"The UPA government had brought J&K back on the track. But the present ruling alliance here is an opportunistic coalition that does not want to help the people or bring back peace," he said while addressing Saffron growers in Pampore town of Pulwama district after his arrival in the Kashmir today. Rahul is on a three-day visit to the state. Yesterday he spend a day with the victims of cross-border firing on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu.
He said the sufferings of people here have made him “sad”, but the fact that the “land” (Kashmir) belonged to his ancestors makes him feel happy. "I am happy because this is the land of my ancestors. But I am sad because you people have suffered a lot over the years," he said.
He credited the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of "slowly ushering in peace and for finishing terrorism" in Jammu and Kashmir. “We gave Rs.900 crore for self-help groups of women in the state.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelWe got the local youth employed. We held Panchayat elections."
He advised the saffron growers to “grow better quality and high yielding Saffron so that the world knows Kashmir Saffron."
Meanwhile, talking to media person on the sidelines of the function in Pampore, Rahul targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over “doing politics of anger”. He was asked to comment on the violence in Gujarat during quota agitation by Patels. “It is a repercussion of the politics of anger pursued by Modi,” he said.
"They (BJP) want people to fight and spread anger. We all know this truth. We (Congress) believe that anger does not benefit anybody except Modiji. It does not benefit the country, farmers, poor and businessmen and we have seen this in Kashmir," he said.
The Congress vice-president also accused the NDA government of being anti-farmer. “This government is anti-farmer across the country. It is a suit-boot ki sarkar. Initially we thought, it was generally suit-boot ki sarkar but now we have realised that it is only (favouring) five or 10 people (corporates)," he added.