Foundations of India stand at threshold of 'destruction': Priyanka Gandhi

Thiruvananthapuram, April 20: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday said that the foundations of the country stand at the threshold of "destruction" under the BJP government.

“Our country made us proud for its foundation of incomparable spirituality, unbreakable resilience, unfailing enterprise and its immense ability to embrace diversity and thrive in it. However, these very foundations of our nationhood stand at the threshold of destruction today,” Priyanka said while addressing a public rally in Chalakudy, Kerala.

She said that the ongoing Lok Sabha election is a fight for the soul of this great nation.

“It is a fight for a democratic India that stood valiantly against tyranny and inequality. It is a fight for the freedom we once took for granted. It is a fight for hope and it is a fight for all that is right,” she said.

She said that some people who owe allegiance to the Prime Minister speak haughtily about changing the constitution which was written with the blood of freedom fighters and martyrs.

She said that the voices of dissent are being silenced, students are arrested for expressing their opinions, activists are raided and jailed, journalists are sacked, beaten, and imprisoned for reporting the truth and much of the media is controlled.

“Government agencies that are meant to protect the law are turned into unlawful extortionists and used to silence dissent,” she said.

Priyanka alleged that the government “protects” rapists and “defends” the oppressors and abusers of women as the "government vilified" victims using administrations.

“Public assets that belong to the people are handed to the Prime Minister’s billionaire friends. Airports, ports, highways, vast tracts of public land and whole sectors of industry like cement, power and coal are virtually now being controlled by businessmen close to the Prime Minister,” Priyanka said.

She said that people in Kerala should recognise the ongoing general election as a fight for the soul of India.