We are now presented with alternative, regressive vision: Sonia Gandhi

 MUMBAI: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday said an alternative and a regressive vision is being presented in the country and freedom as well as the society face a systematic threat.She was addressing an event in Delhi.

"Our country, our society, our freedom are now all under systematic and sustained threat. There is rewriting of history, falsifying facts and fanning prejudice and bigotry," she said.

"Today we are presented with an alternative and indeed regressive vision," Gandhi said.

Was India really a giant black hole before May 2014 and start marching to progress only four years ago. Is this not an insult to the intelligence of our people? It is not a matter of taking credit but acknowledging India's strength," said the Lok Sabha member from Rae Bareli.

She also said callous remarks about changing the Constitution were deliberate attempts to subvert the essence of India it enshrines.

"Provocative statements from the ruling establishments are not random or accidental but a part of a dangerous design. Alternate voices are being silenced. Freedom to think, marry according to ones wishes is under attack. Religious tensions are being fuelled, vigilante mobs and private armies have been let loose," she charged.

71-year-old Sonia Gandhi alleged that there is shocking insensitivity to atrocities on Dalits and women and that the society is being polarised in a bid to win elections. "Long-standing principles that have stood the country well are being violated. Parliamentary majority is being interpreted as a licence to stifle debate and bulldoze legislations. 

Political opponents are being targeted through misuse of investigative agencies," she said.Hitting out at the BJP, she said the judiciary is under turmoil, freedom to differ, eat and marry is under attack and India's social DNA was being re-engineered.

"Does maximum governance mean minimum truth? Does it mean alternative facts take the place of uncomfortable reality? Take jobs for instance. Everyone knows employment situation is grim but all of a sudden we are told seven and a half million jobs were created in 2017.

"This claim was widely debunked. But, does it really make a difference? It doesn't. Because as soon as one myth is demolished another takes it place," she said.