Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy has challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to an open debate over his statement on Maharaja Hari Singh. Reddy offered this debate in front of his statue in Maharaja Hari Singh Park in Jammu on Wednesday. Reddy says that the recent remarks made by Gandhi on Maharaja Hari Singh are insulting and condemnable.
Rahul Gandhi had recently said in a statement that Maharaja Hari Singh was ‘escaped’ and ‘ran away’, to which Reddy has reacted strongly. The comment was made on September 23, the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh, which Reddy called a deliberate insult. He advised Rahul Gandhi to read history and said, “Rahul Baba, read history.” Reddy said that Maharaja Hari Singh did many reforms in Jammu and Kashmir and he is respected in every family of the region.
Reddy accused Rahul Gandhi of doing politics of dividing the society on the basis of caste, religion, regionalism and language. He also objected to Gandhi calling Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha an outsider and mentioned incidents in the history of Congress appointing outsiders as governors in Jammu and Kashmir and other states.
Reddy attacked Gandhi, saying, “This clearly shows that Rahul Gandhi does not consider Jammu and Kashmir a part of India and this is the language of separatists.” He also alleged that Gandhi insults the institutions of India, be it the Supreme Court, the Indian Parliament, the Indian Armed Forces or the Election Commission.
The Union minister listed the achievements of the BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir, saying there had been a lot of improvement in the health, education, infrastructure and welfare sectors under its rule. He praised the programmes that provided amenities like toilets in homes to poor families, free food grains, piped water, gas cylinders and houses to the needy. Finally, Reddy compared Rahul Gandhi to opposition leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Ghulam Nabi Azad, saying Gandhi had lowered the dignity of his post.
