Cong makes public its report on national security

The Congress Sunday made public a report on national security by a task force headed by Lt Gen (retd) D S Hooda and said the issue was important but it would be "completely wrong" to say that it was dominating the poll narrative.

The party said the top three issues affecting the people were unemployment, farm distress and the security of people.

The Congress unveiled the report in the presence of senior Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh and said that its approach towards national security is "not ad hoc and not impulsive".

"The number one issue remains unemployment. The number two issue is farm distress and the number three issue is security of various sections of the people, women, Dalits, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, forest dwellers, journalists, academicians, NGOs," Chidambaram told reporters.

Asked whether this report, which has been made public during the Lok Sabha elections, is meant to change the narrative on national security, he said, "National security is an important aspect of the narrative. But to say that it is dominating the narrative is completely wrong."