Ritik Gupta
New Delhi: Some people in Delhi “want to teach me lessons in democracy”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today, slamming back at top Congress administrator Rahul Gandhi after the latter, in his recent blitz of the government and PM Modi, asserted there was “no democracy” in India and that those who stood up against the PM were labelled terrorists “even if it were (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat”.
“There are people in Delhi who always taunt and insult me. They want to teach me lessons in democracy. I want to show them Jammu, and Kashmir DDC (District Development Council) polls as an example of democracy,” PM Modi asserted after inaugurating the Ayushman Bharat policy for health insurance coverage to all residents of the union territory.
“Some political forces keep lecturing on democracy but see their duplicity and hollowness. The party that rules in Puducherry hasn’t conducted local body elections despite the Supreme Court’s order, whereas Jammu and Kashmir held Panchayat-level polls within one year after becoming a union territory,” the Prime Minister said.
He asserted that the recent local body election in Jammu and Kashmir “strengthened roots of democracy” and hailed voters for wielding their authorisation in the eight-phase election.
“I would like to congratulate the people of Jammu and Kashmir for strengthening democracy. I saw how the young and the old reached the voting booths in the District Development Council (DDC) polls. The people of Jammu and Kashmir strengthened the roots of democracy in the DDC polls,” PM Modi said.
In the first-ever District Development Council (DDC) polls across 20 districts in Jammu and Kashmir, the Farooq Abdullah-led Gupkar alliance and the Congress won in 13 districts. The BJP won in six districts in Jammu.
The BJP, after gaining a victory for the first time in Kashmir, asserted “the lotus has bloomed” in the Valley.
Nevertheless, days after the outcomes, the National Conference claimed that the government facilitates horse-trading and derelictions. Omar Abdullah noted a local body member who won on a National Conference mandate ticket enrolled with the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party governed by former finance minister Altaf Bukhari.
