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At Congress plenary Rahul takes gloves off, launches trenchant attack on BJP

WION
Delhi, IndiaWritten By: Kartikeya SharmaUpdated: Mar 18, 2018, 02:00 PM IST
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File photo. Photograph:(Zee News Network)

The gloves were off when Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressed the Congress Plenary at the end of the Session. Throughout his speech, he kept on attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS.

He likened BJP to Kauravas and Congress as Pandavas. Rahul Gandhi accused BJP as a party ''drunk on power''. Launching a blistering attack on BJP president Amit Shah, he said that BJP has made a person charged with murder as president of its party. He said,” When Gandhi was spending time in jail, Savarkar was busy writing mercy petitions.” Savarkar is a BJP icon and Port Blair airport is named after Savarkar.

He also attacked RSS on a number of issues associated them. “Ambedkar went thirsty because RSS supports such ideas. His sister had to cut her own hair because RSS supports such ideas,” said Rahul Gandhi. His attack on RSS came from the position of lynching which took place last years against people in the name of cow protection where Dalits were at the receiving end. Rahul Gandhi basically tried to challenge the popular narrative around which BJP’s campaign of cultural nationalism has functioned throughout 2016-17. In his speech, he tried to create an opposing binary between Dalit politics and RSS worldview.

His speech also addressed projects and promises associated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He even challenged PM’s foreign policy initiatives in South Asia.

“China is in Doklam, in our shops (as all fancy products are made by them) in the Maldives and Sri Lanka. China is everywhere,” said Rahul Gandhi. He mentioned that as of now there exists US Vision and a China vision but he hopes there comes a time when there can be an Indian vision.

He even accused the government of maintaining silence on important issues. “ Government protects crony capitalism in the country,” he said.

He also addressed internal issues plaguing Congress Party. He admitted that his party could not stand up to people’s expectation in the last tenure of UPA which led to its complete wash out in the Lok Sabha elections. He requested party members to not to fight before Lok Sabha elections and reassured the senior leadership that they would be carried along in decision making.

He said that first he would break the wall between workers and leaders and then between youth and political parties. He has been harping on this theme since the beginning of his career. His experiment to do so failed in Youth Congress where he ended up introducing elections for the posts. The elections turned so expensive that poor candidates were unable to participate.

He also clarified his temple run in Gujarat and said that he had been visiting temple even before though the fact is that Congress monetized his temple run in Gujarat as an electoral strategy.