As it happened: Asking questions is what discomforts Modi Govt the most: Rahul Gandhi at CWC meet

Congress vice-president tore into the NDA government while chairing party's working committee meet on Monday saying that asking questions is what discomorts the Centre as they don't have answers.

Rahul was heading the crucial meeting of party's top decision making body in his mother and party chief Sonia Gandhi's absence due to health reasons.

Here are the highlights of Rahul Gandhi's remarks at Congress Working Committee meet: 

# Asking questions is what discomorts the government as they don't have answers.

# News channels are being punished and asked to shut down. Opposition is being arrested for holding the Government to account.

# The Modi government is lobbying with states via informal channels to deny work under MGNREGA to the very poor.

# BJP-ruled states are actively diluting and undermining laws passed by Parliament. Land Acquisition Act and the Real Estate Legislation are cases in point.

# They are being cruelly ‘rewarded’ by a callous government with denial of OROP and cut in disability pensions.

# In recent months, our jawans have suffered the highest casualties in decades.

# Television channels are being punished & asked to shut down. Opposition is being arrested for holding the Govt to account.

# Our jawans are being cruelly rewarded by a callous Govt with denial of OROP and cut in disability pensions.

# The Govt has swung from one extreme to another in dealing with Pakistan and issues concerning J&K.

# They will exploit caste and religious fault lines. We must anticipate and neutralize such devious strategies.

# With State elections due in the coming months we can safely expect the Modi govt to launch a campaign of disinformation and polarisation.

# Attempts by Govt to suppress fundamental freedoms by abusing State power will only strengthen our resolve to defeat such dangerous designs.

# Asking questions is what discomforts this Govt, for they have no answers, we must expose Govt's failures in upcoming Parliament session.

# The Modi Govt is obsessed with power, it seeks to silence all those who disagree.

# Hiding behind cloak of national security, civil society is being intimidated for asking questions.

# Democracy, under the present dispensation, is going through one of its darkest hours.

The meeting of the top decision-making body of the party has been called to chalk out a strategy for the upcoming assembly elections due early next year.

Sources said that the Congress is unlikely to take a decision on the elevation of Rahul Gandhi, with a section within the party feeling that this should be done after the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Party sources say many in leaders are divided on the timing of Rahul's elevation.

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Some leaders feel that in view of the current situation Sonia Gandhi should continue to steer the party and not take a back seat. 

The current political situation is expected to be discussed at the CWC, including the one-day ban on NDTV which has created uproar in the opposition as also in the media. 

The meeting is significant as the winter session of Parliament is starting from November 16 and the Congress will finalise its strategy for the session at this meeting. 

The Congress is seeking to corner the government on several issues including on the issue of freedom of speech and expression in the wake of the NDTV day-long ban.

The organisational elections in Congress are overdue and the party had sought time from the Election Commission to complete the process by December 31.

The party had informed the poll panel about it as required under the rules. Besides the organisational polls and the strategy to be adopted for Parliament session, the meeting would also take stock of the current political situation and discuss its plans for assembly elections to some states including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab due next year, party sources said. 

Among several political issues that the government seeks to raise during the Session in order to corner the BJP include making political gains out of the surgical strikes, killing of eight Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists in an "encounter" in Madhya Pradesh and contentious issues like the triple talaq and uniform civil code being raked up. 

The CWC meeting comes at a time when many feel Congress President Sonia Gandhi should hand over the mantle to her son as she is suffering from ill health, especially after her roadshow in PM Narendra Modi's constituency of Varanasi on August 2 when she was hospitalised.

(With inputs from agencies)