Jairam Ramesh accuses BJP of misusing central agencies, questions PM Modi's stance on Black Money

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, on Sunday, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of misusing central agencies against opposition leaders and criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comments on industrialists Adani and Ambani. Ramesh also raised questions about the effectiveness of demonetization in curbing black money.

"The way ED, CBI, and I-T are being misused by the Modi government, this has never happened before. PM Modi made the ED arrest Hemant Soren and Arvind Kejriwal and put them in jail. PM Modi himself says that Adani and Ambani took black money in tempo to the Congress office, so why is ED not initiating a probe against them? What happened to demonetization? Was it not intended to curb all the black money?" Ramesh stated.

Ramesh's remarks came after Prime Minister Modi criticized Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, questioning the party's "sudden silence" on Adani and Ambani and insinuating that the Congress party might have received substantial amounts of "black money" from these industrialists.

Addressing the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Ramesh emphasized the need to restore statehood and conduct assembly elections. "J-K should be given state status back, as the Supreme Court has said, assembly elections should take place there. It has never happened in the political history of our country that a state is turned into a UT. In our history, UT has become a state, not the other way around. This is the first time. On August 5, 2019, Ladakh was separated, that's fine, but J-K was downgraded to a UT," he added.

When asked about the alleged assault case involving Aam Aadmi Party MP Swati Maliwal, Ramesh suggested that the BJP was trying to distract from more pressing issues. "For us, this election is for the farmers, women, and youth. These are all the issues. The BJP wants the Congress party to say something to divert attention from these issues. If something has happened, it is necessary to have a proper and impartial investigation. It should not be politicized," he asserted.

Ramesh also called for conducting a caste census and criticized the BJP's lack of clarity on the issue. He noted that while a social, economic, and caste census was conducted under the UPA regime in 2011, the data regarding caste was never published. "We have said that it is very important to conduct a caste census. When Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister in 2011, a social, economic, and caste census was conducted. However, the information obtained regarding caste was not published. Modi government never published it. Even today, the Modi government has not clarified its position on whether it is in favor of a social, economic, and caste census or not."

Ramesh also referenced a Supreme Court ruling from 1992, which stated that reservations cannot exceed 50 percent. He reiterated the Congress party's promise to remove this cap in their election manifesto. "The Supreme Court had ruled in 1992 that reservation can't be more than 50 percent. We have said that we will increase the limit by 50 per cent. Our question to the Prime Minister is whether you will increase this 50 percent limit or not? Will you get the caste census conducted or not?"