Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi today said that the elections in Jammu and Kashmir were an “ideological battle” between the BJP-RSS on one side and the Congress and INDIA bloc on the other.

Addressing largely attended public rallies in Surankote and Srinagar today, Gandhi said, while the BJP-RSS people were spreading hatred and violence everywhere, the Congress and INDIA bloc were spreading love and harmony.

He alleged that whether in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Manipur, the BJP/RSS was spreading hate and violence everywhere. He said, hatred cannot be killed by hatred. Hatred, he added, can only be defeated by love and harmony and that is what the Congress party was doing.

He recalled how he led two ‘Bharat Jodo Yatras’, first from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and another from Manipur to Maharashtra to spread the message of love and harmony everywhere.

Reiterating his party’s promise to restore the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, he said, it was grave injustice with the people here. He pointed out, in the past, states have been divided into two and the union territories upgraded to statehood, but never ever has in Indian history a state been downgraded to a union territory, which was done to Jammu and Kashmir.

The senior Congress leader said, if the BJP government at the centre does not restore the statehood, the Congress and the INIDA bloc will force it to do so. He said, it was not the same government and the same Prime Minister as they were during the last ten years. He said, people of India have shattered Prime Minister Modi’s ego and he no longer refers to his “56-inch chest”.

Referring to the closure of HMT factory in Srinagar, Gandhi said, there were so many such public sector units across the country, which Modi had closed down. He said he was working for a few billionaire friends and pointed out how he had waived off loans worth Rs 16 lakh crores of about 25 billionaires.

He said, the wrong economic policies during the Modi government, like the demonetisation and wrong implementation of the GST regime had hit the small and medium industries, which generated maximum employment.

He announced that the Congress-National Conference government in Jammu and Kashmir will provide Rs 3500 unemployment allowance per month to the educated youth, besides filling up all the pending vacancies in various departments.

Urging people to defeat the designs of the BJP, he said, they were spreading hatred and disharmony between people. He alleged that they were making one caste to fight against another, one religion against another, one state against another and one language against the other. He said, similarly, in J&K, they were trying to make the Gujjars-Bakarwals fight against the Paharis. He said, only the Congress and the National Conference can take everyone along.

He urged both the Congress as well as the National Conference workers to work and vote for the alliance’s candidates for peace, progress and harmony in the state.

In Surankote, Gandhi was accompanied by senior National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah and party in charge for J&K Bharat Singh Solanki.

In Srinagar, those present included PCC president Mr Tariq Hamid Karra and former PCC president Mr Ghulam Ahmad Mir and others.