Congress Holds A Massive Protest Against Govt. Selling National Assets, Inflation and other issues.

"BJP Selling Off Indian Assets Built Over 70 Years for Profit": Bhalla/Sawhney

JAMMU: The District Congress Committee Jammu (Urban) on Friday held its Monthly Meeting of DCC Jammu (U) held at PCC Headquarters at Shaheedi Chowk to discuss party affairs and current issues. District President Yogesh Sawhney, Former Minister J&K and General Secretary PCC chaired the meeting and it was presided over by Former Minister Raman Bhalla Vice President JKPCC. After the meeting the Congress workers led by Raman Bhalla and Yogesh Sawhney along with senior Congress leaders held a massive protest at Shaheedi Chowk against the Centre to oppose the selling of Indian national assets to private companies and incessant price hike across the country besides other issues. The protesters who raised slogans and held placards criticising the government marched towards the Lt. Governor's House to showcase their disappointment with the government's policies. However, roads were barricaded and heavy deployment of police personnel was arranged to stop the protesters and demonstrators from continuing their peaceful march. The protesters demanded immediate restoration of statehood, to curb selling of national assets, and control inflation from the Centre.





Bhalla upping the ante against the government over its asset monetization pipeline scheme, alleged that Union Government resorting to selling "family silver" proves the "gross incompetence" of the Modi Cabinet in effectively managing the Indian economy. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is only committed to the welfare of his "crony friends"."The aim is to profit crony friends. Modi ji is committed to the welfare of his friends and the assets of the country are no more in safe hands," he said.He also alleged that to rub salt on the wounds of common people who are suffering amid a declining GDP growth, the prime minister has been extracting hard-earned money from their pockets and filling his own coffers. He has now decided to sell the country's valuable assets worth Rs 6 lakh crore -- roads, rail, mines, telecom, power, gas, airports, ports, sports stadium, and whatnot," Bhalla alleged.



Terming the NMP the "National Mitigation Scheme", Bhalla alleged that the government is keeping the interest of the countrymen at bay and "doing good only for itself and its friends"."Those who had vowed that I would not let the country be sold, they are selling everything to their friends one by one under the 'National Mitigation Scheme'."Road, rail, airport, electricity, gas, petrol, mines, stadium, warehouse, everything is being sold," Bhalla alleged.The "sell policy" of the central government will prove to be harmful for the country, he alleged.“This was not discussed either in Parliament or in any parliamentary committee or the Consultative Committee of the Finance Ministry. There was a brief mention about the same in the Budget speech by the Finance Minister. This was decided by the NITI Aayog, which is not a constitutional body, but was set up after a recommendation from the government."He said that the BJP never mentioned anything about this massive economic overhaul in their election manifesto of 2014 and 2019.



Also speaking at the protest, Sawhney launched a scathing attack on the BJP stating that the Government had blamed the Congress party for doing nothing for the country in the 70 years, but now it is selling the same national assets to private companies at low prices. He also spoke on increasing poverty and pointed that nearly 80 Crore Indians are below poverty lines and the Modi Government has done absolutely nothing for them. Households are pleading for help as they can't afford oil to make their food, cannot afford fuel to travel to work, cannot afford LPG to cook their food. Each section is distressed and the government sits hand in hand doing nothing. He said that the NDA government is taking decisions that continue to disrupt and harm the lives of the common man in some or the other way. The incessant price rise has had the people in its clutches since several months. The poor are affected the worst as they cannot afford sufficient food to feed their families, and yet the government has the audacity to boast about their policies. Sawhney appealed to the party workers to shed light on these issues at the grassroots level and empower people to voice their grievances. He said prices are unaffordable, unbearable and unreasonable and that the people have to work cohesively together to fight the government on matters of inflation, selling of Indian assets to private companies, growing unemployment rates, and other countless issues.



Further attacking the Centre, Sawhney said that another policy that is ruining the future of our promising nation is that this government failed badly in safeguarding and protecting national assets. The government is selling everything. It sold its stakes in profit making companies such as BPCL, SCI and CONCOR. They are not stopping here though, the BJP Government is planning to sell its stake in another 46 public sector companies. The Modi Government is also selling profit making stakes thereby destroying the buffer which the country could have kept in safekeeping as reserves for emergencies and dire situations. The only motive behind this irrational privatisation is to promote an unhealthy brand of capitalism and help wealthy corporations that support this government stock the country's wealth. The Indian people have to rise to the ocassion and stop the government from destroying the country's future, he stated.



Along with Raman Bhalla and Yogesh Sawhney, prominent senior Congress leaders were present at the protest including Dr. Ramakant Khajuria, Sanjeev Panda, ML Malager, Ritu Choudhary, Bhanu Mahajan, Ricky Dalotra, Krishan Lal Gupta, Atul Sharma, Chander Shekhar, Diwan Chand, Virendra, Pawan Dev Singh, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Rakesh Sharma, Raj Kumar Mehra, Inder Pal, SubTarsem Lal, Kulbhushan Sharma, Sandeep Dogra, Jasveer Singh, Ganesh Durg, Vimal Panchita, Jagdish Kashyap, Sahil Sharotra, Ram Magotra, Satpal Sapolia, Rajesh Sharma, Ajay Kumar, Garu Ram, Aman Bawa, Joginder Singh Chib, Vijay Chib, Sandeep Sharma, Sanjeev Sharma, Ranit, Manmeet Singh,Nasar Masih, Jasmeet Singh,Surinder Dogra, Pritam Singh, Anil Kumar, Vijay Singh, Rakesh Sharma, Amandeep, Swaran Singh and others.