DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Haryana's Energy, Transport and Labour Minister Anil Vij once again strongly criticized the Congress today, and said "During the British rule, it was said the sun never set on the empire, but the people of this nation overthrew British rule and established democracy. The Bharatiya Janata Party will lay down its life to protect that democracy, Vij said.

Vij was responding to questions asked by media personnel regarding Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, raising concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi's statements, Sh. Vij said that "Rahul Gandhi has a habit of lying. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have created a strategy through which they have waged a jihad against the country's constitutional institutions. Now Rahul Gandhi talks about blowing up the Election Commission with an atom bomb, while earlier he was targeting the ED, CBI, and the judiciary. Constitutional institutions are the pillars of democracy, but the opposition (Congress) wants to bring dictatorship by destroying it because dictatorship is in Congress's DNA, Sh. Vij said.

Recalling history, Sh. Vij said that "Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed an Emergency in 1975, which revealed the true face of Congress. At that time, fundamental rights of common citizens were suspended, censorship was imposed on the press and nearly 1.5 lakh opposition party members were jailed. This is the DNA of Congress. Since DNA passes through generations, dictatorship is embedded in their political nature, he added.

He further stated that "Congress is the originator of terrorism in India. This party was responsible for the partition of the country on religious grounds. Even though Mahatma Gandhi had said partition would happen over his dead body, Congress still went ahead with it. Around 10 lakh people were killed and millions were displaced during partition. Since then, Pakistan has been hostile towards us."

Again attacking Congress, Sh. Vij said that "Congress imposed Article 370 in Kashmir, which led to the rise of terrorism. In their 55 years of rule, Congress took no steps to eliminate terrorism. In contrast, the BJP government abrogated Article 370, and since then, there has been a significant decline in terrorist

activities in Kashmir.

(editor@dailyworld.in)