Stepping up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said there is a group of people who think they know more than “God’, and the PM is one such “specimen”.
“We have a group of people in India who are absolutely convinced that they know everything. They think, may be, they know more than God. Our Prime Minister is one such specimen,” he said, while addressing a gathering of the Indian diaspora in San Francisco in the United States, on Tuesday.
Attacking the PM, Rahul further said, “If you place Modi ji on a pedestal next to God, Modi ji will start explaining to God, how the ‘universe’ works. These all are funny things. But, this is what is going on (in India).”
“We have a group of people who think they understand everything. They can speak to scientist and explain science to them, they can speak to historians and explain history. They can explain ‘warfare’ to the Army. At the heart of it, is the ‘mediocrity’. They actually don’t understand anything,” he added.
Citing what necessitated him to do the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Rahul said, “All the instruments that were needed to do politics in India, have been under the control of the BJP-RSS. People are threatened, cases are being filed against them, (federal) agencies are being used. In some ways, it had become difficult to act politically. Therefore, we decided to launch the foot march from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.”
The Yatra-led by the former party president which had started from Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari on September last year, traversed through several states including Karnataka and concluded in Jammu and Kashmir in January. The party says it was one of its “most decisive mass contact programmes”.
“Government tried everything to stop ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. They used all its strength to stop the Yatra. They used police, but nothing worked and impact of the Yatra was profound,” he said.
The biggest lesson that I have learnt from the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is, there is something to learn from everybody, he added.
“You cannot cut hatred with hatred. You can only cut hatred with love and affection. Indian people don’t believe in hating each other. But, a small group of people who control the system are stoking
the flames of hatred,” Rahul said, attacking the ruling dispensation.
He added, “There are more people who believe in love and affection, more than hatred. We have to challenge it and fight it with affection.”
In response to a question, the Congress leader said, “We are committed to the Women’s Reservation Bill. We wanted to pass it in the last government (UPA), but some of our allies were not happy with it. But, I am confident when we return to power(in 2024), we will pass the Bill.”
He said involving women in the political system, businesses and running the country, are the only way to empower them.
