Yechury hits out at Modi, Shah for branding oppn leaders as

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of making it a trend to brand opposition leaders as "traitors" for opposing abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

He also charged the BJP-led central government with pushing the country towards an unprecedented economic crisis with its "faulty" economic policies.

"The comments Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are making are not only heinous and deragatory towards opposition leaders but also unprecedented.

"It has become a trend on their part to brand opposition leaders as traitors and supporters of terrorists if they raise questions on abrogation of Article 370," he said.

Speaking on the economic slowdown in the country, the CPI(M) leader told reporters here that instead of living in denial, the union government should take steps to revive the loans taken by big corporate houses.

"It is due to the faulty policies of the Modi government that has led to such an unprecedented crisis," Yechury said.

"In order to revive the economy, we had suggested on getting back the loans and subsidies taken by big corporate houses which amounts to 1.25 lakh crores, but this was never done," Yechury said.

Referring to bills being allegedly bulldozed in Parliament, the former two-time Rajya Sabha MP said, the BJP is trying to destroy the constitutional structure as most of the bills are now passed without proper scrutiny by the standing committees and the MPs.

He alleged that the present BJP regime has taken the politics of vendetta to a new level by arresting opposition leaders without any proper case.