Dhami Sonia Gandhi memoir reply: Uttarakhand CM to read it first, accuses Congress of vote-bank politics
Speaking in Bhopal on 11 November, the Uttarakhand chief minister cited surgical strikes and Operation Sindoor while saying Congress governments neglected soldiers.
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The Dhami Sonia Gandhi memoir remarks came on Wednesday 11 November in Bhopal, where Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told reporters he would answer the Congress leader’s book only after reading it. He also accused the Congress of vote-bank politics, ANI reported.
Dhami was in the Madhya Pradesh capital to pay tribute to Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s late mother, Kashi Bai, according to the same report. The political comments came when reporters asked him about Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging.
Dhami Sonia Gandhi memoir remarks: what he said
The Free Press Journal reported that Dhami said he had heard about the book and “he would read the opus and understand it” before saying more. Neither report gave a date by which he would respond.
Dhami did not wait to criticise the party, though. “The entire country knows that the ideology she embraced has always been centred around appeasement,” he said, in remarks carried by ANI. He added that “The Congress ruled the country for 60 years, and all it did was work for vote-bank politics”.
The Congress appeasement politics charge
Dhami turned from the memoir to national security. He alleged that Congress governments neglected the armed forces. “It (Congress) did not work towards the country’s security or make efforts to boost the morale of our soldiers guarding the nation’s borders,” he said, per ANI.
He contrasted that record with the Modi government. The Free Press Journal said he praised its national security decisions, including surgical strikes and Operation Sindoor. Dhami also pointed to his own background. “I’m the son of a soldier, so I understand their pains,” he said, as quoted by the paper.
Operation Sindoor and the one rank one pension claim
The Free Press Journal added that Dhami credited the Centre with giving soldiers “one rank one pension”. The reports do not carry any figures behind that claim. Neither report carried a reply from the Congress to Dhami’s remarks.
Background: The Sonia Gandhi memoir
NIS earlier reported what Sonia Gandhi recalls of her first stay in India with the Bachchan family. Dhami’s comments add a BJP chief minister’s voice to the discussion, from a state that votes next year.
Dhami has been setting out that message at home as well. He has also said that the BJP will win a third straight term in Uttarakhand in the 2027 election.
What happens next
The promised Dhami Sonia Gandhi memoir response has no date, so it depends on when he finishes the book. Until then, the Congress has not publicly answered his appeasement charge in the coverage available, and the party’s reply, if it comes, is the next thing to watch.
The remarks give the BJP a line of attack on the Congress ahead of Uttarakhand's next assembly election, using a book already at the centre of a political row. They also show a state chief minister speaking on national security away from Dehradun. Dhami promised a reply only after reading the book, so a fuller response depends on when he does.