Azad forced to resign, Congress now sunken ship: J&K BJP chief
New Delhi (PTI): BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit chief Ravinder Raina claimed on Friday that Ghulam Nabi Azad was forced to resign from the Congress as he was insulted and harassed in the party, which is a sunken ship now.
Azad resigned from all party positions on Friday ahead of the organisational polls, describing the Congress as "comprehensively destroyed" and accusing its leadership of committing "fraud" on the party in the name of "sham" internal elections.
"Azad's resignation shows there is no internal democracy in the Congress and it runs through a remote control. It also establishes the fact that the Congress only cares for one family and there is no space for other leaders," Raina told reporters here.
Stating that Azad "sweated blood" for decades while serving the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said, "He was forced to resign as he was insulted and humiliated in the party."
He further said the Congress was already a sinking ship and with Azad's resignation, it is a "sunken ship" now.
When Azad retired from the Rajya Sabha in February last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was overcome by emotions reminiscing about his close association with the former leader of opposition in the Upper House of Parliament.
Modi had said it would be difficult for anyone to fill the shoes of Azad as he cared not only about his political affiliation but also about the country and the House.
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Lok Sabha poll results show India not 'Hindu Rashtra': Amartya Sen
Kolkata (PTI): Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has asserted the recent Lok Sabha poll results point to the fact that India is not a ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
He also expressed displeasure that keeping people behind bars “without trial" has continued in the country since the British rule and it is more in practice under the BJP government in comparison to the Congress regime.
"That India is not a Hindu Rashtra only has been reflected in the election results," Sen told a Bengali news channel at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here.
The 90-year-old economist arrived in Kolkata from the US on Wednesday evening.
"We always hope to see a change after every election. Some of what happened earlier (during the BJP-led central government) like putting people behind bars without trial, and widening the gap between the rich and poor, are still continuing. That must stop,” he said.
The eminent economist said there is a need to be politically open-minded, especially when India is a secular country with a secular Constitution.
“I do not think the idea of turning India into a Hindu Rashtra is appropriate,” Sen said.
He was also of the opinion that the new Union cabinet is “a copy of the earlier one”.
“The ministers continue to hold similar portfolios. Despite a slight reshuffle, the politically powerful are still powerful,” he said.
Sen recalled that during his childhood when India was under the British rule, people were jailed without any trial.
“When I was young, many of my uncles and cousins were put in jail without trial. We had hoped that India would be free from this. Congress is also to blame for the fact that this did not stop. They didn't change it... But, this is more in practice under the present government,” the Nobel laureate said.
On the BJP losing the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat despite building the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Sen said attempts were made to overshadow the country’s true identity.
"... Building the Ram Temple spending so much money... to portray India as a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ should not have happened in the country of Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. It shows an attempt to neglect India’s true identity, and it must change,” he said.
Sen also said that unemployment was on the rise in India, and sectors like primary education and primary healthcare were being neglected.
