Mangaluru: Manish Tiwari, Senior Congress leader, and former I&B Minister, addressing press persons at the Congress office here yesterday, was categorical that the NSA level talks scheduled for the 23rd of August must be called off in the wake of the continuous ceasefire violations by Pakistan.
Tiwari questioned Modi’s government keenness to continue with the talks in the wake of these attacks and provocations. “Pakistan has done it again and again”, he said. “They have provoked and humiliated India. Why does our PM want to continue with the NSA level talks, what does India expect from these talks. NSA levels talks should be immediately cancelled. There is no point in talking to Pakistan, when our innocent civilians are been killed not only by their terrorists, but also by shelling”.
“A couple of thousand kilometers from Mangaluru on India’s north western borders with Pakistan there is a lot of tension across the line of control and the international border, for the last couple of days, including aug 15 from the Pakistan. The joint statement signed in Ufa Russia between both PM’s of respective countries has been totally blown out of the water by the Pakistanis even before the ink on paper has dried up”, Tiwari said of the continuing terror attacks on the LOC.
“The Gurdaspur terror attack was the first in 15 years, and the arrest of Pakistani trained militant in J&K and continues shelling on the borders. Insult is being added to the injury by the invitation given by the Pakistani high commissioner to the separatist elements in J&K namely the Hurriyat leaders”, he added.
Press persons raised the issue of the Midnight arrest of the students of the FTII on August 18th, in response to which Tiwari said that, the FTII students represent the best of the best in terms of creative material available across the country. These students are agitated that a person with no credentials is appointed as chairman of FTII.
“The Government has resorted to the most brutal crackdown instead of listening to students and addressing their legitimate grievances. The way the students are being treated, doesn’t sit well with the Congress. It is the Modi midnight knock syndrome, and if you protest or disagree with govt you will be arrested, jailed and tortured”.
Tiwari went on to elaborate the Congress views on a number of issues. He said, “In the larger perspective, the way the govt has opposed the right to privacy in Supreme Court, and has been squeamish about the rights of the LGBT community, it is tantamount to squeezing the liberal spaces in this country and in the years to come the fascist and authoritarian tendency will only grow”, he said.
“The first assault would be on media, the notices given to few television channels for the coverage of Memon hanging, is just the begining. Its important that to be progressive, pluralistic, all the liberal forces must condemn such acts and organize themselves to protect democracy”, he added.
On the stalled GST bill, he said that there is a problem with its design, the specific objection which congress had, was related to the exclusion of petroleum products, rate of taxation, and the grievance reddressal mechanism.
Govt will have to do two things that meet the demands of opposition of Foreign minister and the two ministers, responsible for harboring fugitive, and other on boost watch 40 deaths connected to ne scam. Once these minimalistic conditions are met, there can be special session of parliament for GST.
Presspersons raised the issue of Congress’s relevance in the wake of the BJP becoming the largest political party in the world with 11 Crore members. Tiwari countered the question with his own. “If a missed call constitutes a membership, then I would rather worry for future of the BJP, it’s absolutely an oxymoron. The party which prided itself as cadre based party, has now become missed call party, and by time 2019 comes, they would miss the political buzz in India also”, he said.
He was certain that the fortunes of the Congress were on the upswing. “Between 2014 May and 2015 August, there is a sea change in the mood of the people, people have realized that country cannot be run on rhetoric and bluster. The PM has started traveling all over the world to gain a sympathetic audience to deliver his diatribe, but that cannot substitute for governance”, he averred.
He cited religious polarization and the stagnant economy as failures of the BJP government. “There is religious polarization in India, which has been deliberately orchestrated by the BJP. Despite their numbers in Lok Sabha, the govt is not politically stable. Mr. Jaitely seems to be have achieved the impossible, he seems to have shrunk the economy, and it shows in the data put on the Ministry website on a monthly basis. Major sectors have recorded negative growth for the last 5 months.
The unfortunate reality is that you have a government in New Delhi which only works for the rich and the capitalists and in fact it is like a puppet at the hands of the big businessmen,” he said.
On Modi’s comments on the previous UPA government during his recent tour to the UAE, he said, ” PM not only targeted the Congress in Dubai but also in Canada. It is completely unbecoming of the Prime Minister and it is unbecoming of the PM and his office to behave this way. But unfortunately he seems to be suffering from Congress phobia or Congress obsession, and the funny thing is that the Prime Minister who is ready to circumnavigate the globe in order to deliver lectures doesn’t have the courage to face the Parliament for a single day. If PM Modi had conviction of courage he would have come to the floor of the Parliament. If this continues we will have to send our spokesperson to counter him on foreign soil.”
Tiwari concluded by saying that in the months and years ahead, the government will not only lose relevance, but BJP will also be marginalized and relegated to the sidelines of Indian politics.
