Congress concludes first phase of Jan Sangharsh Yatra in Maharashtra; Ghulam Nabi Azad says democracy in danger under BJP

Pune: Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Saturday that democracy is in danger in the BJP regime, and once again the Congress will have to stand up to save it. He was speaking at the concluding function of the first phase of the Congress’ ‘Jan Sangharsh Yatra’ in Western Maharashtra. [caption id=“attachment_5146281” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Congress leaders at Jan Sangharsh Yatra. Twitter @INCMaharashtra[/caption] “Maharashtra played a key role in the freedom struggle… freedom fighters from the rest of the country received energy from Maharashtra,” Azad said. “The freedom struggle of the Congress then was to achieve a democratic rule in the country but today the same democracy, for which Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and thousands of freedom fighters gave their lives, is in danger and today the Congress has to rise up to save our democracy from a dictatorship,” he said. “Before independence, the repression was done using bullets and sticks, but today it is being done using the Central Bureau of Investigation, Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate,” he said. Only “two or three people” (in the BJP regime) are behind this repression, Azad said, without naming anyone. Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP could fulfil none of their election promises. “If we do not stop the BJP now, more ‘Bure Din (bad days) are ahead,” he said. Due to demonetisation and a poor implementation of the GST, the country is facing problems such as the soaring fuel prices, rise in non-performing assets, agrarian crisis and an increase in terrorism, Kharge said. State Congress chief Ashok Chavan said the support this campaign received showed that the public sentiment is against the BJP government. Former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said people are now saying that it was a mistake to vote for the BJP in 2014. “People have realised that the government has cheated them and this time they will not get cheated again,” he said.