Modi-Shah puppeteering CG to exploit resources: Kharge
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Raipur: Launching a sharp attack on Union home minister Amit Shah and the BJP govt at centre and state, the All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge said that Shah's repeated visits to the state are aimed at exploiting coal, forests and other resources.
Kharge further accused the state's BJP govt of acting as a puppet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah. He was addressing the 'Kisan, Jawan, Samvidhan' public rally at Raipur on Monday despite heavy rain.
Criticising the centre's resource policy, Kharge said, "Why is Amit Shah visiting Chhattisgarh so often — is it his home? The CM here dances to their tunes. This is an insult to Chhattisgarh's self-respect. Shah is here not to meet people but to exploit our resources — coal, iron ore, forests."
Kharge further accused the Modi-Shah of misusing central agencies like ED and the income tax department, "Our leaders, workers, even the CM were harassed.
But the people of Chhattisgarh know the truth. No matter how many times Modi, Shah or their disciples come, Chhattisgarh will not bow before them," he thundered.
Reminiscing about the Feb 2023 Maha Adhiveshan held in Raipur under his presidency, Kharge said, "You re-elected me as Congress President here, and from Raipur, our slogan of social justice echoed across the nation and shattered the arrogance of the Modi govt in 2024."
He mocked BJP's '400 paar' claim, asking, "Where did it vanish?" and pointed out that the Modi govt is surviving only with the support of allies. "Modi is not running a majority govt; he is walking on two borrowed legs," he quipped.
"Now they want to remove 'secularism' and 'socialism' from the Constitution... I dare them to delete it — the entire nation will rise in protest." Kharge emphasised. He added that the Congress govt protected people's and tribal rights but their schemes were shut by the BJP.
He also accused the BJP govt of cheating youth and farmers. "Where are Modi's promises now? Rs 15 lakh in accounts, doubling MSP? Modi is the 'Jhutho ka Sardar' (King of Lies).
He questioned the rising debt under BJP rule. "In 2024-25 alone, they borrowed thousands of crores. Is this for development or to advertise Modi and Shah?" Kharge criticised the expansion of liquor outlets in the state, and the unavailability of essential fertilisers like DAP and urea.
Taking on Modi's silence on global and national issues, Kharge said, "He didn't attend all-party meetings, and hasn't visited Manipur even once while people are dying. Yet, he tours foreign nations."
Referencing Trump's repeated claims about mediating India-Pakistan ceasefire issues, Kharge added, "PM Modi stayed silent even after Trump made those claims 16 times. That's shameful." He vowed to raise these issues in Parliament's monsoon session beginning July 21.
Kharge also warned, "Modi sarkar (govt) is reducing voters in Bihar by 2 crore ahead of assembly elections. But their time is coming. If the country and Constitution are safe, only then are we safe."
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He has spoken truth — or even better, the Constitution — to power, from within. It could have been that, having subdued the Opposition and its own MPs and Ministers, the government now came up against a pushback from the less bendable constitutional authority. That's a tantalising possibility. But there is a problem here, and it is this: Nothing in Dhankhar's very public record till now supports that particular theory. A level of publicness and transparency — missing from this episode so far — would also have been intrinsic to it. What we are left with, then, is an imagined drama of mincing moves on the chessboard of power and politics that ostensibly led to the V-P's exit. It is set against the broader canvas of a newly reconvened Parliament. Here, large issues, from the recent Operation Sindoor to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, which has raised genuine fears of disenfranchisement of large numbers of voters, have lined up, and the House has yet to properly let them in. As the Monsoon session enters its second week, then, on one side is the shadow-play of Dhankhar's exit, and on the other side an Opposition clutching at the smaller issue even as, on the larger issue, it does not seem to be getting a grip. Leaders of the Opposition have proposed to host a farewell dinner for Dhankhar, ostensibly to embarrass the government, twist the knife in. But on SIR, the Congress-led Opposition's legitimate criticisms of the Election Commission's impractical timelines in a poll-bound state are in danger of being clouded by its own disunity and Rahul Gandhi's loose and lurching pot shots at the EC. 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