KALABURAGI: AICC President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that denying political clearance for the visit of Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to the United States by the External Affairs Ministry (MEA) shows the mean mentality of the Union government.
Speaking with media persons at his residence here, Kharge said that the chief ministers of different states visit different countries to attract investment by NRIs in their States.
"They have to impress upon them by briefing them about the benefits their states give to investors," he added.
"If the States prosper, the country will also prosper. It should not stop any Chief Minister from visiting other countries simply because it would affect the prospects of the BJP."
Kharge said that he would condemn the attitude of the Union government of denying political clearance for the visit of Revanth Reddy at the last minute.
The AICC President also defended the stand of the Congress Party of singing only 2 paragraphs of the National Song ‘Vande Mataram’ in its programmes. He said the Congress Party had taken this decision more than half a century back.
This decision was taken in the meeting attended by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose, and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad.
Kharge said that the BJP is calling the Congress leaders who were not singing the full Vande Mataram song as ‘traitors’ now. "Let the BJP leaders tell whether all these leaders who consented to sing only 2 stanzas of the Vande Mataram Song are traitors," he asserted.
Kharge further said that we have sung just a single stanza of the national anthem ‘ Jana Gana Mana’ for more than half a century, and this decision was also taken in the meeting of many patriots.
The BJP leaders like Home Minister Amit Shah, who were not born at the time of independence of the country and do not know about the freedom struggle, teach us about patriotism; it is the Congress Party which fought for the independence of the country, it is the Congress Party which started singing Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana.
"The NDA came to power a decade back; why has it not made singing all the paragraphs compulsory immediately after it assumed power, and why have the state governments ruled by the BJP not implemented it so far?" Kharge questioned.
He advised instead of simply digging unnecessary controversies, let the Union government concentrate on increasing employment, give a guarantee of education, and frame policies better than the policies brought by the previous Congress government.
On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on bringing ‘need-based policies’, Kharge said that it was the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who framed need-based policies, and during his period big dams were constructed, and medical and engineering colleges were started in different states.
What Prime Minister Modi is telling now has been implemented by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The then Opposition parties, which were supposed to continue them, only made politics, Kharge blamed.