Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday stressed on Opposition unity to take on the ruling party and show “India’s strength in the next one year as the country has now become slave to two-three top leaders of the BJP and the RSS.”
Mr. Gandhi was speaking at the Congress’ first ever Other Backward Classes (OBC) convention at Delhi’s Talkatora indoor stadium where, he launched an all out attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
‘Govt. favouring rich’
He argued that the Modi government favoured only the rich but in other places, skill and experience were valued. To make this point, he termed the founder of Coca Cola as a shikanji (lemonade) seller who made it big in the U.S.
Stating that “The country has become slave to two-three people of the BJP and the RSS,” Mr. Gandhi said, “[But] No one can stop the entire opposition from getting together in six-seven months to a year — whether it is Congress or the Janata Dal, you will see the entire Opposition standing together and Narendra Modi, Amit Shah or Mohan Bhagwat ji will see the strength of India... They will know that India cannot be run by two or three people.” He added that the country can be run by India’s people, India’s youth.
The Congress outreach marks an effort to regain ground lost to powerful regional leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav, who built a dedicated OBC vote bank in the 90s. The national party is keen to tap the section that makes up over 52% of the population.
With an eye on the 2019 election, the Congress president promised better representation to OBCs in the party as well Vidhan Sabhas (Assembly), Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
But Mr. Gandhi’s clear target was the BJP’s top leadership including Mr. Modi. He said there was no dearth of skills in the country, especially among the OBC community, but finance was not made available to them.
“₹2.5 lakh crore were given to 15 industrialists. But the farmer got nothing...the loan waiver was for 15 people but not for the farmer who continues to commit suicide,” the Congress leader alleged.
“People with skills are not rewarded in India ... farmers work hard but you don't see them in the office of Modi-ji,"the Congress chief added.
Taking this argument further, Mr. Gandhi said, “The person who started Coca Cola company was like a person who sells shikanji (lemonade). He used to sell shikanji in the U.S. by mixing sugar and water. His experience and skills paid dividends, made wealth and launched the company.”
He also said that McDonald’s founder was running a dhaba (roadside eatery) before making it big.
These excerpts were used to troll him and the hash tag #AccordingtoRahulGandhi had became a top trend by Monday evening.
