NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the party’s job was to make India “express itself” and claimed the BJP-led government was increasingly unsettled by people’s voices. Speaking at the Ratchnatmak Congress National Convention, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha also took several digs at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and the RSS.“Our job is very simple and we can drive them crazy…I am telling you, (PM) Narendra Modi does not sleep at night,” Rahul said. Referring to Shah, he added, “You saw (HM) Amit Shah, what did they used to call him? Chanakya? And Sardar Patel… Where has he disappeared? He could not enter Parliament House… Why? Because, for the first time, they are feeling India’s expression…”Gandhi said the Congress would seek to challenge what he described as the BJP’s attempt to impose a particular political order on the country.“What was happening at Jantar Mantar is that students want to express themselves. They are in pain, and they want to express themselves, and the government says no. We are going to create order at Jantar Mantar. You cannot express yourselves,” he said.“So their job and their political philosophy is to impose an order on India, an order that benefits them and certain other people. And our job is to make India express itself and break that order,” Gandhi added.He was referring to the protests at Jantar Mantar over the NEET-UG paper leak. The CJP-led protest ended after Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as education minister, while opposition parties in Parliament demanded a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the alleged police action against protesters.Gandhi also attacked the RSS, saying the organisation did not understand contemporary India. “I can understand if you are fighting the British Empire and suddenly you say, I’m feeling a bit scared. But you’re fighting a bunch of jokers. How can you feel scared? You’re literally fighting a bunch of jokers, clowns who have no idea about our philosophy, no idea about our history. I can naturally say this about my friends in the RSS. It’s obvious to me,” he said.“In fact, it’s obvious to most people that these people have no understanding of India. Why? Because somebody who cannot connect with India as it is today cannot understand India. To understand India, you can’t understand India 3,000 years ago. You have to understand it today, right now. And to understand it today, the only way to understand it today is to understand its expression,” he added.Rahul attacks govt over Iran war, ChinaThe LoP also criticised the government’s foreign policy, referring to the war in Iran and India’s ties with the US, Russia and Iran.“War broke out in Iran. For India—had it recognized its own strength and had its leader been someone like Indira Gandhi—this presented the greatest opportunity in the world,” he said.“What kind of opportunity? Iran was our old friend, America was our friend, and Russia was our friend. We could have stepped up, become relevant, and leveraged these friendships. But what actually happened? Nothing of the sort. Instead, Pakistan stepped in and took our place; Pakistan became the mediator, while India and Modi-ji simply looked on,” Gandhi claimed.He also alleged that the government was suppressing information about India’s border situation with China.“Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, and Narendra Modi have been completely deflated. They are calling up all the media editors, telling them, ‘Don’t publish this in your newspapers; suppress the story.’ They are causing direct harm to the country without a second thought,” he alleged.Gandhi further referred to the government’s response after the Galwan clash and claimed that India’s position had weakened its negotiations with China.“After the Galwan incident, the Prime Minister held a meeting—a Zoom call. He stated that China hadn’t taken a single inch of Indian territory. The Army said that our land had been taken. Just think about the message sent to China: Chinese negotiators asked our negotiators, ‘What nonsense are you talking about? Your own Prime Minister said no land was lost.’”He alleged that the government’s foreign-policy decisions were ultimately driven by political funding, adding, “And they did all of this solely to finance their political structure, to secure funds from Adani ji.”Rahul also criticised what he described as the government’s approach to diplomacy, saying foreign policy could not be reduced to personal relationships between leaders.“I don’t know where it came from; this idea got into their heads. I don’t know who put it there or where it came from, the idea that foreign policy means hugging politicians,” he said.
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Recalling an incident from his childhood involving his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi said she had returned from an official dinner in the US and told his mother, Sonia Gandhi, that “these Americans take me for a complete fool.”Gandhi said Indira Gandhi had noticed that then-US First Lady Nancy Reagan was wearing a dress of the same colour as her sari.“You aren’t just visiting a friend’s house. In this role, the Prime Minister of India doesn’t engage in mere friendship. They have no interest in friendship; their job is to protect the country,” he said.Read more: Rahul mocks PM; another Congress leader takes Meloni swipe
