Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on January 30 launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the latter believed in the same ideology as Nathuram Godse.
Addressing thousands of party workers after leading the “Save the Constitution” march at Kalpetta, organised to protest against the Citizenship law coinciding with the 72nd death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress MP also said Mr. Modi was making Indians to prove that they are citizens of the country.
Referring to Mahatma Gandhi assassin Godse, he said Mr. Modi shared the same ideology with him (Godse).
“Today, an ignorant man is trying to challenge Gandhi’s ideology. He is so full of hatred and anger that he cannot even understand what India’s strength is,” he said.
“The ideology is same. Nathuram Godse and Narendra Modi, they believe in the same ideology. There is no difference except that Modi does not have the guts to say he believes in the ideology of Godse,” the Wayanad MP added.
Attacking the Prime Minister on the new citizenship law, Mr. Gandhi questioned Mr. Modi and asked who was he to ask Indians to prove that they were Indians.
“Indians are being made to prove that they are Indians. Who is Narendra Modi to decide if I am Indian? Who gave him the licence to decide who is Indian and who is not Indian? I know I am an Indian and I don’t have to prove it to anybody,” the former Congress president said adding the 1.3 billion Indians do not have to prove to these people that they are Indians.
He said the country needs to fight the hatred that is being spread and there is need to confront the BJP peacefully.
“Our duty is to fight their hatred. Our duty is to confront them [BJP] peacefully...we do not believe in violence...we believe in love and affection. We will defeat them with love and affection,” he said.
India, which is the land of different languages and religions, used to show the world how great a country it was, he said.
Touching on growing unemployment in the country and the economic slowdown, Mr. Gandhi said the youngsters do not have a future under Mr. Modi and no matter how much the Prime Minister talks about Pakistan, it was not going to get youths more jobs.
National Register of Citizens (NRC) and CAA (Citienship Amendment Act) and the present situation in Kashmir were also not going to get people jobs, he added.
“We all understand that youngsters have no future under Modi...You can study as much as you can but there are no jobs. Today, if you go to the U.S., Western Europe, or any other country and ask what they feel about India, they say India has lost its way.”
Alleging the Prime Minister was “protecting” his “friends”, Mr. Gandhi said he has given away the ports and airports to the Adani group.
The government was taking steps to privatise the Railways, various public sector undertakings, including BPCL, were being disinvested, he said.
