“During his america visit Rahul Gandhi said that the RSS and BJP divide India and one religion fights with other religions. We introduced the word ‘love’ through the Bharat Jodo Yatra. I think it is very powerful. The pressure we put on the Prime Minister is unprecedented, bringing out the Constitution worked well “
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Washington : Rahul Gandhi said, ‘I think a lot of energy is locked in India. So India should start respecting the skills of common Indians. Two businessmen are controlling everything in India and this is harming the productivity of India a lot. If I could make India a little more fair, I would say I would have succeeded. Another level where I think we have succeeded is fighting the idea of anger and hatred. The fact that our opposition RSS and BJP divide India and one religion fights with other religions. We introduced the word ‘love’ through the Bharat Jodo Yatra. I think it is very powerful. The pressure we put on the Prime Minister is unprecedented, bringing out the Constitution worked well. And when we moved into the elections, suddenly we were looking at the Prime Minister and we could see that the pressure was starting. Then at some point he simply said that I (PM) am non-organic. I talk directly to God. That way the illusion was broken in a way.’
Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is on a US tour these days. He gave an interview in Washington DC on Tuesday. During this, he fiercely attacked the BJP-RSS. Also talked about relations with Bangladesh. At the same time, he said a lot about Indian voters and weak democracy to Chinese occupation. He even responded to America’s interference. He said, ‘It is not enough to say that the Indian voter is flexible and knowledgeable, because the Indian voter gets information through various structures. So if we do not have equal opportunities, the voter can be very knowledgeable and flexible. It does not matter. We fought elections by freezing our bank accounts. Now I do not know of any democracy where this has happened. You can have a flexible voter. You still need to campaign. You still need to have conversations. You still need to have meetings.
Rahul Gandhi further said, ‘There are more than 20 cases against me. I am the only person in Indian history to have been sentenced to jail for defamation. We have a chief minister who is in jail right now. So I mean one way of saying it is that yes, the Indian voter is very resilient and you know they stand like a rock. However, the Indian voter needs an architecture to work, which is not there. “I can tell you that for the last 10 years, Indian democracy was almost finished. But it is coming back again. It is fighting back but it was finished. I have seen the Maharashtra government being taken away from us. I have seen it with my own eyes. I saw it that our MLAs were bought and lured. Suddenly they became BJP MLAs. So Indian democracy is being attacked, weakened very badly and now it is fighting back and I believe it will fight back,” the Congress MP said. When asked if the Congress party believes that the caste census is a counterweight to the BJP-RSS Hindutva politics, and whether the acceptance of the way forward by the Congress is a revival of Mandal-Kamandal, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul said, “No, I don’t think we see it as linked to the policies of the BJP. The Congress party has always, even before Independence, fought for the idea that India should be a fair country, the idea that all Indian citizens should be treated equally. We strongly feel that there is a very deep problem of participation and we are going to address that problem. I don’t see it as a Mandal versus Kamandal issue. What we are saying is different, different from just the idea of reservation. What we are saying is that we first want a comprehensive understanding of what is going on and then we are going to implement a number of policies to fix it, one of which is reservation. Yesterday someone misquoted me that I am against reservation. We are going to increase the reservation to more than 50 per cent.” On India-Pakistan relations, Rahul Gandhi said, ‘Both countries are retreating because of Pakistan promoting terrorism in our country. We will never accept that Pakistan is promoting terrorism in our country. This will not be accepted and as long as they continue to do so, problems will remain.’
When asked what is your long-term vision for India’s future and what steps do you think can take India forward, the Congress leader said, ‘I think it is more than my vision, it is what is the vision of the Indian people? I think this is more important. It is more important to understand this and bring it together. I have my own views, but I think what India wants and what India thinks, a vision should emerge from here. I see this as a great opportunity for India to rethink how we progress in a democratic environment in the 21st century.
