Union Minister Kishan Reddy takes exception to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on Maharaja Hari Singh

Union Minister criticizes Rahul Gandhi for insulting Maharaja Hari Singh, accuses him of divisive politics and degrading opposition leader role.

Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Wednesday (Septe,ber 25, 2024) said Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi should learn history and understand the various development works of Maharaja Hari Singh, instead of insulting him.

“He has used words like ‘Maharaja Hari Singh was thrown out’...‘Maharaja Hari Singh ran away’. It is shameful that he chose September 23, the day of Maharaja Hari Singh’s birthday to insult him by stating that kings have never cared about their subjects,” said Mr. Reddy.

The Union Minister said every family in the region had a photo of Maharaja Hari Singh as they respected the positive development and reforms that he ushered in. “This is the destructive politics of Rahul Gandhi as he tries to break society along caste, religion, region, and language. He keeps stating that the Lieutenant-Governor is an outsider. How many Governors in J&K (Jammu and Kashmir) and across India did the Congress party appoint and how many were domiciles of the same State?,” asked Mr. Reddy.

“How is it that Rahul Gandhi looks at the LG as an outsider but Sonia Gandhi who was not born in India could become an MP, the Congress party president for two decades, a Member of the National Advisory Council, and the de facto leader of the UPA government...this clearly shows that Rahul Gandhi treats J&K as not a part of India and this is the language of separatists,” he said.

Mr. Reddy said of the 15 Governors and Lieutenant-Governors appointed so far, eight leaders came from the Congress, five from the BJP and two persons from other parties. Out of these appointments, none of them barring Dr. Karan Singh were domiciles of J&K. The Union Minister asked Mr. Gandhi for an open debate on the achievements of the BJP in the last 10 years and that of the Congress in J&K over 60 years.

“Over the last 10 years, there has been transformational change in Jammu and Kashmir across all domains from health, education, and infrastructure to welfare. The poor are beneficiaries of toilets in their houses, provided free grain, piped water, and gas cylinders and those without houses are also given houses,” he said.

He accused Mr. Gandhi of degrading the role of Leader of Opposition that was once held by the likes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, and Ghulam Nabi Azad.