NEW DELHI – In wake of the BJP attacking Rahul Gandhi on his speech in London, the Congress on Monday mounted a strong defence of its leader, alleging that it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has been saying things abroad about the country and the opposition.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said: “When the Prime Minister said that nothing has been done in past 70 years, he is demeaning the country and its people.”
She also slammed Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur for his comments on Gandhi.
Gandhi, in London, said that Indian political leaders can give a talk in Cambridge or Harvard Universities but he can’t give a talk in an Indian university.
“The reason is that our government simply does not allow any idea of the Opposition, any concept of the Opposition to be discussed. Same happens in the Parliament house. When there are important things that we need to speak about demonetisation, GST, the fact that the Chinese are sitting inside our territory… when we try to raise these questions, we are not allowed to raise them in the House. It is a fact. It is shameful but it is true, and this is not the India that all of us are used to.”
The BJP has attacked this and said he is undermining the Parliamentary democracy
Gandhi, addressing the Indian diaspora, said that the biggest issues in India today are unemployment, price rise and the violence that Indian women face.
“We have an ideology of hatred and violence, a disrespectful ideology that attacks people because of their ideas, and you must have noticed one thing and this is in the nature of the BJP and the RSS,” he said.
He slammed Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, noting that he had said that China is stronger than us, so we can’t fight with them, adding that at the heart of the ideology is cowardice.
“The British were stronger than us, so then we should have not fought with them. How would we ever get Independence? If we had followed the BJP’s principle and the RSS’ principle that if they are stronger than us, we don’t fight with them, then we would still be ruled by the British,” he contended. -IANS