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North The Indian Eye

AMERICANNewsline

16 JUNE 09, 2023

RAHUL GANDHI’S VISIT TO US

Bharat Jodo, democracy and economy:

Congress leader offers a different

vision of emerging India

With an eye on next year’s Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader says the Opposition in India was “pretty well united”

OUR BUREAU

San Francisco/Washington, DC
aunching a scathing attack at the Bhartiya
Janata Party (BJP)-led government in the
LCentre, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on
Wednesday said that he had to launch ‘Bharat Jodo
Yatra’ because all instruments of doing politics
(connecting with people) were “being controlled”
and the “whole India” walked with him during the
mega foot march.
The Congress leader, who is on a 10-day tour
to the US, was addressing the Indian diaspora
at an event titled ‘Mohabbat ki Dukaan’ in San
Francisco on Wednesday. Addressing a gathering
there, Rahul Gandhi said, “Some months ago, we
started a walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
While walking we realized that normal instru-
ments for doing politics (connecting with people)
were not working anymore. They were controlled
by the BJP and RSS. People are threatened and
agencies are used against them. In some way, it
had become quite difficult to act politically. That
is why we decided to walk from the southernmost
tip of India to Srinagar.” Rahul Gandhi engages in a discussion with members of the National Press Club, in Washington DC on Thursday (ANI)
Taking a jibe at PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi said
that some groups in India have the “disease” of historians, warfare to the army and flying to the air In his Stanford address, Gandhi said that op-
being under the impression that they know every- force. But at the heart of it, they don’t know any- position in India is struggling and the drama start-
thing. “In India, we grew up with people of differ- thing,” he lamented. ed months ago. “The drama started six months ago.
ent languages, different religions. And that is what Rahul Gandhi also said that he was the first We were struggling....The opposition is struggling
is being attacked. The tradition in India, of people person to be given a “maximum sentence for def- in India. A huge financial dominance, institutional
like Gandhi Ji and Guru Nanak Ji, has been that amation” and had never imagined something like capture, struggling to fight the Democratic fight in
you should not be under the impression of know- him being disqualified from the Lok Sabha, could our country. None of the systems were working,”
ing everything. It is a ‘disease’ that some groups of ever happen when he joined politics two decades said Rahul Gandhi.
India think that they know everything. Even if they ago. Referring to his disqualification from Lok “Democracy isn’t just about an opposition
have a conversation with God, they might explain Sabha as a Member of Parliament (MP), Rahul party. It’s about several institutions that support
to him,” he said. Gandhi said: “I don’t think when I joined politics the opposition. Those institutions were either cap-
Further adding to his remark, the Congress in 2004, I ever imagined what I see going on in tured or were not playing the role they were sup-
leader said, “And of course, Prime Minister is one our country. It was way outside what I had ever posed to play,” he added.
of them. If you make him sit with God, he would imagined.” Amid efforts back home to galvanize the rival
start explaining to him (God) how the universe Rahul Gandhi in March was disqualified as a political forces against the BJP government at the
works...and God would get confused about what member of the Lok Sabha after a Surat court sen- Centre with an eye on next year’s Lok Sabha elec-
I had created.” tenced him to two years imprisonment in a defa- tions, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thurs-
“They (BJP) can speak to scientists and ex- mation case filed against him over his ‘Modi sur- day said the Opposition in India was “pretty well
plain science to them. They can explain history to name’ remark.

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