Mumbai, July 17 (IANS). Attacking the Central government, Maharashtra Congress President Harsh Vardhan Sapkal on Friday asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not yet met Ladakh social activist Sonam Wangchuk, even though Wangchuk has expressed the same concerns as the Congress over the NEET paper leak.
Speaking to the media, Sapkal strongly defended his party’s stance and demanded the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
On the question of meeting Congress opposition leader Rahul Gandhi Wangchuk, Sapkal drew attention to the indifference of the central government.
He said that Wangchuk has been on hunger strike for the last 20 days over the NEET paper leak scam. Sapkal reminded the journalists that when Wangchuk had earlier protested for constitutional safeguards in Ladakh, the BJP government had detained him under the National Security Act (NSA).
He said, “The Prime Minister did not say a single word on the NEET issue in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address.” Trying to link Congress to Wangchuk to deflect blame is very misleading.
Sapkal said that Rahul Gandhi has started a nationwide campaign named ‘Students’ Echo’ to strongly demand the resignation of the Union Education Minister.
Addressing the issue of Shiv Sena (UBT) inviting Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat for its upcoming Ram Raksha Andolan, the Maharashtra Congress president made a direct attack on the religious credentials of Maharashtra’s ruling coalition government.
Sapkal said, “BJP and RSS follow the policy of ‘Ram naam japna, paraya maal apna’ (chanting Ram’s name and grabbing the property of others). People directly appointed by the Modi government are involved in the huge theft in the Ram temple of Ayodhya. BJP and RSS are maintaining a guilty silence on this matter.”
He rejected the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to investigate the Ayodhya temple theft, calling it a puppet of the BJP government and said that it would never be able to catch the real culprits.
He challenged that if the Chief Minister and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has the courage then he should accept the invitation and attend Uddhav Thackeray’s Ram Raksha program.
The Congress leader did not give much importance to the rumors regarding the infighting within the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar).
He said top NCP-SP leaders, including Jayant Patil and MP Supriya Sule, have already made clear their party’s strong stand and the media should rely on their official statements rather than rumours.
–IANS
ASH/VC
