Misguided Missiles: CM Revanth Reddy Slams PM Modi Over Gold Ban
"The Centre has failed in foreign policy. It should convene an all-party meeting on dealing with the fallout of the West Asia conflict. The government must build consensus and consult experts," he said during an informal interaction with media persons.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for announcing austerity measures including asking for a self-imposed ban on buying gold for one year to overcome the impact of the US-Iran war, stating that it only reflected complete administrative failure at the Centre and chinks in the NDA’s foreign policy.
In an informal chat with mediapersons, the Chief Minister also took strong exception to Modi isolating Muslims and Maoists, which he said was unbecoming of a Prime Minister who was constitutionally obligated to work for welfare of all sections of society. Reacting to the Prime Minister taking a jab at Congress, describing it as MMC (Maoist Muslim League Congress) at his public meeting on Sunday, the Chief Minister wondered if Muslims and Maoists were not part of the diversified Indian society.
“If the BJP believes in annihilation of people differing with its ideology, the Congress, which knows the value of life, having lost its great leaders, has persuaded Maoists and brought them into the mainstream,” Revanth Reddy pointed out. “It is unfortunate that we have a PM who shows discrimination against a section of citizens of the country,” he added.
On Modi’s charge that the Congress was denying a free hand to the security forces to deal with Maoists, Reddy said he would never agree if a free hand would mean killing Maoists in encounters. Successive Congress governments had formulated policies like land reforms, free housing for the poor, minimum support price, employment guarantee, as part of addressing the concerns raised by Naxalites in pursuit of their ideology which was the uplift of the poor.
Revanth Reddy said because of persuasion of the Telangana government, 818 Maoists, including 22 top leaders, had surrendered along with sophisticated weapons including 58 AK47s rifles, SLRs and rocket launchers. The Prime Minister ought to have appreciated Telangana for achieving something no other state could, he said and reiterated his appeal to former Maoist former general secretary Ganapathi to surrender.
Referring to the impending crisis the country would face in the days to come, the Chief Minister reminded that Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had cautioned the Modi administration against the adverse impact months ago. The arrogance of the present dispensation did not allow broad consultation and availing of expertise of Congress leaders who had earlier dealt with international crisis, Revanth Reddy said. “They (Modi and ministers) are misguided missiles,” Reddy said.
Asked how the BJP could win elections if the allegations of mishandling of crises were true, Revanth Reddy said misuse of poll machinery was reflected in the recent deletion of lakhs of voters in West Bengal, a lethal weapon that the BJP puts to use. “We could win in the South because the Congress resists such coercive steps,” Revanth Reddy said.
The Chief Minister said he still believed that the Telangana elections would be put off by six months and held along with 2029 Lok Sabha polls as the BJP would go ahead with the one nation-one election plan. He said if Modi was sincere about women’s reservations, he could as well implement them within existing the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha and take up delimitation as well without increasing the number of constituencies.
