Avinash Azad
In a fiery speech delivered in Jammu, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi unleashed a blistering critique of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and prominent industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha accused the current administration of favoring billionaires at the expense of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Jammu and Kashmir.
Gandhi, addressing a gathering in the region seeking votes for alliance candidates, claimed that the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the controversial demonetization policy have devastated local businesses. “GST is a weapon used to attack small and medium industries in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said, emphasising the far-reaching consequences of these economic measures.
The Congress leader painted a grim picture of the national economic landscape, asserting that “demonetisation and wrong GST destroyed millions of businesses in India.” He highlighted Jammu’s strategic importance as a central hub connecting Kashmir’s business and production sectors with the rest of the country, lamenting that the BJP government had effectively “ended the role of this central hub and broke the backbone of the MSMEs and entrepreneurs here.”
In a statement that resonated with many local business owners, Gandhi stressed the critical need for supporting Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the region. “Unless the MSMEs of Jammu and Kashmir stand on their own feet, employment will not be generated here,” he warned, underlining the direct link between the health of small businesses and job creation.
Perhaps the most provocative part of Gandhi’s speech was his repeated use of the term “Adani Tax,” a phrase clearly designed to draw attention to what he perceives as the outsized influence of billionaire Gautam Adani on various sectors of the Indian economy.
“Today every industry in the country is facing Adani Tax,” Gandhi claimed, before listing off a series of examples: “Adani tax at airports, Adani tax on ports, Adani Tax on Road, Adani Tax on grains, Adani tax on military weapons, Adani tax on cartridges.”
The Congress leader’s choice of words seemed calculated to paint a picture of an economy increasingly dominated by a single corporate entity, with implications for fair competition and equitable growth across all sectors.
Turning to the political status of Jammu and Kashmir, Gandhi expressed disappointment that full statehood had not been restored to the region before the upcoming assembly elections. “We thought you (people of J&K) would get statehood back before the assembly elections. That was the right way, but now we want you to get your democratic rights as soon as possible,” he stated.
Gandhi went on to make a bold promise, declaring, “As soon as our government is formed in Jammu and Kashmir, we will give you statehood.” He emphasized the unprecedented nature of Jammu and Kashmir’s current situation, noting that while many Union Territories have been elevated to statehood in India’s history, “for the first time a state has been made a Union Territory, this has happened with Jammu and Kashmir.”
The Congress leader framed this downgrade in status as a fundamental injustice, telling the crowd, “Doing this is injustice to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Your democratic rights have been taken away from you.”
