Raipur: Calling the Modi government’s inaction against China’s border violations “cowardice”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Sunday questioned its nationalism and patriotism.
In his speech at the party’s 85th plenary in Raipur, Rahul cited External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s remark that India should not fight China because it’s a bigger economy.
“A few days ago, in an interview, a minister said that the economy of China is bigger than that of India so how can we fight with them? When the British were ruling us, was their economy smaller than ours? Does this mean that you shouldn’t fight against those more powerful than you? Only fight those who are less powerful? This is called cowardice. This is the ideology of Savarkar. That if someone is more powerful than you, kneel before them,” Rahul said.
“Isko nationalism kaha jata hai? Yeh deshbhakti hai? Yeh kaunsi deshbhakti hai? (Is this nationalism? Is this patriotism? What kind of patriotism is this?),” he added.
He also launched a renewed attack on the Adani Group, comparing it with the East India Company.
“To the people who work in Adani’s company, I want to say that your company is harming people. It is taking away all of the country’s infrastructure. Remember the freedom struggle was against the East India Company. That was also a company. That company, too, took India’s infrastructure, ports, and everything. History is being repeated. This is being done against the nation. And whenever there’s anything being done against the nation, the Congress will stand and fight,” Rahul said.
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BJP a party of ‘pujaaris‘, Congress ‘tapasvis‘
Continuing with the same narrative, Rahul also spoke about his Bharat Jodo Yatra which culminated in Kashmir, where he hoisted the national flag at Lal Chowk.
“Narendra Modiji went with 15-20 people of the BJP and hoisted the flag at Lal Chowk. However, the Bharat Jodo Yatra made lakhs of Kashmiri youth hoist the national flag,” said Rahul, recounting how he’d see the tricolour everywhere when he was walking through the Valley.
The Congress leader added: “He didn’t understand. We put the emotion of the flag in the hearts of the youth of Jammu & Kashmir. You (Modi/BJP) took that feeling away from the youth of Jammu & Kashmir. That’s the difference between you and us.”
During the Budget session of Parliament held earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in his speech said that he too had hoisted the flag at Lal Chowk back in 1992, despite threats and without security.
At the plenary, Rahul said the flag is a feeling of the heart. “We’ve taken this feeling and planted it in the heart of Kashmiri youth. We didn’t tell them to take the flag. They came on their own, picked up the flag and walked. Why did they do this? A Kashmiri brother told me, ‘Rahul ji, today I’m walking with you. You know why? Because you trusted us. You opened your heart to us and we’ll open our heart to you’.”
He concluded his speech by saying that while the BJP was a party of “pujaaris”, the Congress was a party of “tapasvis”.
“Kharge ji is president of the Congress, senior leaders are here — make a programme for tapasya. We will all participate in the tapasya together and give our blood and sweat to this country. And I guarantee that when we stand in tapasya, the whole country will stand with us. Because this country is a land of tapasvis.”
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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