Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said a previous government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party had let Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar go back to Pakistan. He claimed that the Congress party, unlike the ruling BJP, would not bow down to terrorists.

Azhar’s outfit had claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed on February 14.

“A few days ago, our soldiers were martyred in Pulwama. I want to ask the Prime Minister a direct question: who is responsible for their martyrdom?” Gandhi asked at a public meeting in Karnataka’s Haveri district. “Wasn’t it the BJP government that released Masood Azhar from jail and sent him back to Pakistan?”

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The government of India had to release Azhar and two other militants lodged in Indian jails to secure the lives of passengers held hostage on a hijacked Indian Airlines flight in December 1999. The man who negotiated with the hijackers was current National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, then India’s Intelligence Bureau chief. Doval was present on the tarmac in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when Azhar was exchanged for the passengers on board flight IC 814.

Gandhi said Doval had “escorted” Azhar back to Pakistan. “We are not like [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi, we don’t bow down to terrorists,” he said.

Gandhi claimed industralist Anil Ambani has a debt of Rs 45,000 crore and Modi had given him Rs 30,000 crore in the form of the Rafale deal. “The slogan of ‘acche din aayenge’ has changed to ‘chowkidar chor hai’,” he said. “Modi is not people’s chowkidar, he is Anil Ambani’s chowkidar.”

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If the Congress is voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, it will implement a minimum income guarantee policy for every poor citizen, said Gandhi. “The BJP wants to divide the nation into two parts – one for people like Anil Ambani, Mehul Choksi and the other for the poor farmers, labourers and the marginalised,” he said. “We want one nation where everyone gets justice.”

Demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax had caused a huge loss to the economy, Gandhi claimed, adding that his party would reform the GST if voted to power. He said that one of the first decisions after forming the government will be to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Gandhi added that the ruling alliance of the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka would fight the Lok Sabha elections together and win it.

‘Will create fisheries ministry if voted to power’

Gandhi on Saturday assured a group of traditional fishermen in Goa that a separate Union ministry would be created for fisheries if his party is voted to power at the Centre, PTI reported. The Congress chief, who arrived in Goa on Friday, held meetings in Panaji with different groups, including traditional fishermen, those dependent on mining and environmentalists.

“Gandhi assured us that if the Congress is voted to power, a separate ministry for fisheries and fisher welfare would be created for the welfare of the sector,” said National Fisherworkers’ Forum Vice Chairperson Olencio Simoes. He said Gandhi agreed to include the demand in the party’s manifesto for the upcoming elections.