The Jammu and Kashmir unit of Congress on Monday staged protests against the BJP-led central government and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the trade deal with the US. The party also demanded restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. The party alleged many of its workers have been detained from the protest sites, despite peaceful demonstrations.
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In Srinagar, scores of Congress workers and leaders assembled at the J-K Pradesh Congress Committee office at M A Road and shouted slogans against the Modi government. The protesters, led by MLA Bandipora Nizamuddin Bhat, had planned to march from the party office to M A Road. However, a posse of police stopped the protestors and sealed the gate of the party office, preventing the protestors from marching outside.
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Speaking to reporters, Bhat said the government has ‘compromised’ the countryโs image and its sovereignty.โThe simple consequence of the trade deal is that it is for the first time that Indiaโs sovereignty and image has been compromised. It will have far reaching consequences,โ he said. Bhat said the Indo-US trade deal will have economic repercussions. โThe countryโs economic situation is in a very bad shape, we are in a bit of recession. With this deal, we are not hitting the ordinary individual, we are hitting the countryโs economic base,โ he said. Bhat said the government does not care about the Constitution, the sovereignty of the country, about the policies and relations with other countries, the poor, and the identity of J&K.
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In Jammu too, Congress activists and leaders gathered outside the party headquarters at Shaheedi chowk along the Residency road, but were not allowed to move forward by the police. The workers, including women, were carrying placards that read ‘Restore Statehood’ and ‘Hamari Riyasat Hamara Haq’, and also raised slogans against the Modi government and the India-US trade deal.
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Launching a sharp attack on the Centre, Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Ahmed Karra alleged that the Prime Minister had ‘destroyed Indiaโs global standing’ and weakened institutions that once defined the countryโs foreign policy. โThey are even dictating terms on whether India should buy oil from Russia. Such decisions about our trade and energy security cannot be dictated by other countries,โ he said. During the protest, demonstrators also set ablaze flags of the United States and Israel as a mark of protest.
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Karra said the party had planned protests across all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir coinciding with the ongoing Budget session of Parliament, but alleged that police did not allow peaceful demonstrations in certain districts of the Kashmir Valley. He claimed that Congress workers in several districts of the Valley were either detained or placed under house arrest, terming it a curtailment of democratic rights.