@ThinkTank · 2:13
Punjab and Uttar Pradesh 22: In Conversation with Congress National Spokesperson Dr. Shama Mohamed
Uttar Pradesh, for instance, has the largest number of seats in Parliament, and Punjab figures prominently, especially when we're discussing agriculture and national security. My focus today is on the Congress Party India's of of of of of Indias main opposition party, the, which is currently in power in the state of Punjab, and they're looking to make a strong comeback in Uttar Pradesh. However, many people view the Congress as a party which isn't likely to make much of an impact
@ThinkTank · 0:43
I want to start this off by focusing on Uttar Pradesh Shama. Before we address some of the problems which perhaps the Congress is facing, I think it makes sense to look at some of the positives. First, the entry of Mrs. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is something which is seen as good news for the party in general and it seems to have created quite a stir on the ground and galvanized the party. Katter. She's also actively been working across Estate over the last few years
Shama Mohamed
@shama · 2:52
And that itself is the change which we are going to see. And that's the game changer. This time in the pediatrician elections, everybody is counting us out. But you will see that there will be a huge change. One of the tickets given is to the mother of the unarmed victim. And because she understood what is law and order, what were the issues when the girl was allegedly or now raped by an MLA called Kuldip Singh sing singer, who is from the Bhatiya Janta party
@ThinkTank · 0:54
However, it still remains to be seen how this is going to really impact in terms of the voting outlook or the way voters are going to react because back in 2017, you allied with the Samajwadi Party, who isn't with the Congress at this point, and they've gone ahead and allied with the RLG as we know it. So there are various ways to sort of looking at this, but how do you see the Samajwadi Party and are already coming together? Is this an opportunity or a threat?
Shama Mohamed
@shama · 3:19
We formed an alliance and we lost and this time Samajwadi Party has taken and all of in fact us also they took a decision, we took a decision also to fight elections on our own. And as Mrs. Priyanka Gandhi said, we will see after elections to not allow the Bhatiya Janta party to come into power. We can form postpole alliances
@ThinkTank · 0:32
So Shama, just follow this up with a couple of questions on Punjab and we can quickly wrap it up. But the resignation of Captain Amridar Singh and the differences between Mr. Abdul Singsidhu and the Chief Minister Chani are factors which could versely affect the Congress. So given all of this, what do you think is the major issue which the voters will think about when they think of Punjab? There are a plethora of issues such as fuel prices, corruption, drug addiction among the youth et cetera
Shama Mohamed
@shama · 0:34
Current. You know, the resignation of Amanda saying it happens in any other parties. We saw what happened in Karnataka. Yadurapa was made to resign Karnataka. In fact, Operation Lotus was conducted under him. How they pull down our government there in Karnataka and they made the European to resign. We have seen Uttarakhand with three CMS. The third one is Pushkardami. Right now, they just don't even talk to the MLS. It's Modi
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
@ThinkTank · 0:23
Nishama the Pegasus issue is something that's being widely discussed at the moment and Raul Gandhi put out a strongly world tweet accusing the Modi government of treason but many observers point out to when the UPA was in power there were notifications which were included in the It Act which people see as another form of surveillance. So what is your stance on this issue as we speak
Shama Mohamed
@shama · 3:01
So Karen, when it comes to Pegasus, you have to understand the implications over here. First and foremost, a sworn affidavit in the Supreme Court was given by the government of the dying. They purchased this Pegasus. No involvement at all. Number two, an RTI reply to the Home Ministry said that they have not purchased Pegasus, any of it from the Israeli company NSU. The defense Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh also denied saying that we have not bought this spyware called Pegasus from NSO
@ThinkTank · 0:32
So, Shama, I understand where I hard press the time, and unfortunately, we have to drop this conversation to a close. But it's been wonderful connecting with you on Swell. There are a lot of questions which are in people's minds about the Congress and the future of the Indian opposition at last. So I hope we can have you back for another rapid fire conversation on Swell. Up until then, I just want to thank you so much again for giving us your time
Shama Mohamed
@shama · 0:12
Thank you so much for inviting me, Karen. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. So let's just call me another day and then we can do another wrap. Thank you so much. Bye