Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP at a diaspora event in the United States, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Mr. Modi is a “specimen” of a group of people who think they know more than God.
Mr. Gandhi, interacting with members of the Indian community at a Mohabbat ki Dukaan (shops of love) event in Santa Clara (California) on Tuesday, claimed that the aggression that Muslims now face in India was once faced by the Dalits in the 1980s. He said India was not a fair place for Dalits, tribals, minorities and the poor and that’s something that the Congress was trying to change.
The Congress leader is on a six-day tour of the U.S. where he is scheduled to participate in different events including speaking at Stanford University, addressing the National Press Club at Washington, a closed-door session at a think-tank and interact with intellectuals, academics and lawmakers among others.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi criticises Modi for keeping mum on ‘corruption’ during BJP regime in Karnataka
“The world is too big and complicated for any person to know everything. That is the disease... There is a group of people in India who are absolutely convinced they know everything. They think they know even more than God. They can sit with God and explain to him what’s going on. And of course, our Prime Minister is one such specimen. If you sat Modi ji with God, he will explain to God how the universe works and God will get confused about what have I created,” Mr. Gandhi said.
The Congress leader claimed “this group” can teach history to historians, science to scientists and warfare to the army. “But at the core of it is mediocrity. They’re not ready to listen,” he noted.
Talking about the inauguration of the new Parliament building and the Sengol (sceptre) row, Mr. Gandhi said these issues were distractions as the Modi government cannot address issues like unemployment, price rise, and the spread of anger and hatred.
“The BJP can’t really discuss these issues so they have to do the sceptre thing. Lying down and doing all that. Aren’t you happy that I’m not lying down?,” he asked.
When a supporters of Khalistan disrupted his speech, he briefly paused and said “mohabbat ki dukaan” before the protesters were taken out by security personnel.
At another event at the Silicon Valley Campus of the University of California in Santa Cruz, Mr. Gandhi asserted that the BJP can be defeated if all the Opposition parties are “properly aligned”.
Stating that the process to bring Opposition parties together is progressing well, Mr. Gandhi said, “So, I think bringing the Opposition together is important, but also aligning the Opposition and making the people of India understand that there is not just a group of Opposition parties that have combined but a proposed way forward for the country. And we’re working on those things,” Mr. Gandhi said.
Mr. Gandhi said Bharat Jodo Yatra had not only given a new idiom to end the “politics of hate” but also provided an alternative vision for the country. He also stated the government tried its best to stop the yatra that had seen huge participation from the people of India from Kanniyakumari in the South to Srinhara in the North.
He applauded the Indian Americans for holding up the Indian flag in America and being cultural ambassadors of India. “You make us all proud. When we think of our country, you are all our ambassadors. When America says Indian people are extremely intelligent, Indian people are masters of IT, Indian people are respectful. All these ideas that have come, they’ve come because of you and because of your actions and your behaviour,” he said.
