Possibility of India's division increased due to PM Modi's policies: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday charged that the possibility of Indias division has increased due to his policies and that political dictatorship is becoming a realityRamesh made these comments at a press conference on the sidelines of the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Congress leader Rahul GandhiThere are three challenges before the country which need to be fought The possibility of division of India has increased due to the intention and policies of the prime minister Economic disparity is rising and divisive ideology are the two other challenges he told reporters at Bali Borda village of Jhalawar districtThe former Union minister alleged Political dictatorship is becoming a reality which has resulted in One NationOne Man One individual is being given all political rightsConstitution is being ignored and constitutional bodies are being weakenedRamesh said the Bharat Jodo Yatra was planned to raise various issues facing the peopleAlso Read BJP always raises issue of Uniform Civil Code during elections Congress leader Jairam RameshThe yatra entered Rajasthan on Sunday It started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7 and has so far covered the five southern states of Tamil Nadu Kerala Andhra Pradesh Karnataka and Telangana and then traversed through Maharashtra and Madhya PradeshIt will conclude in Jammu and Kashmir in early February next year covering 3570 km in 150 daysRamesh said the yatra is not for winning elections and it is expected that it will activate and strengthen the party organisationWe may get the benefit of the yatra in the election I feel that the yatra will not make a major difference in the election outcome But it will make a difference if we take serious followup actions he saidReplying to a question he said that in politics there are several other things than elections He said that ideology has its place in politics Elections will be won and lost but it is important to fight ideological battles he saidHe said the Congress had lagged in giving priority to ideological battle and gave priority to election in the past 3540 yearsOn the BJP accusing the Congress of dividing India he said the BJP doesnt deserve to raise such allegations as those who follow the ideology never played a role in the freedom struggle and in the making of the ConstitutionHe said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS has a divisive ideology and the BJP is expert in giving slogans event managementOur republics basic principle is unity in diversity and BJY yatra not only believes in unity in diversity but also unity in plurality If you suppress plurality then unity will be in dangeriquest he saidHe further said BJP wants uniformity and we want unity This is the basic difference between BJPRSS and Congress We have not divided India but we have divided Pakistan in 1971Ramesh said the Congress party will start the HathSeHath Jodo campaign from January 26 to March 26 It will be a threelevel campaign in which yatras will be taken out from booth block district and state levelsHe said that several organisations have joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra Many of these organisations had taken part in the movement led by Anna Hazare in 2012 but they have now realised that there is no other option than the CongressThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever