Rahul Gandhi opens 'Mohabbat ki Dukaan' at International baazar

In a fiery rebuke aimed at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government, Rahul Gandhi expressed the need for his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' campaign. Speaking to the Indian diaspora at California, US, the Congress leader asserted that the prevailing control over various political avenues to engage with the people compelled him to initiate this grand march.

Hyderabad: Taking what could be Congress’ catch-line in next year’s Parliament election- “Nafrat ki bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan kholi – to the international platform, Rahul Gandhi tore apart the RSS and the BJP at a gathering of the Indian diaspora in Santa Clara, California, in the US on Wednesday. The former MP of Wayand in a blistering criticism said that the RSS and the BJP are controlling all the instruments of politics in India.

Speaking on his realisation of the changing demography of Indian politics, the senior Congress leader said, “Prior to walking, we were finding that the normal tools that we used to use for politics… conversations like this, public meetings, were not working anymore. All the instruments we needed to do politics in India they were controlled by the BJP and the RSS. People are threatened and agencies are used against them. In some way, it had become quite difficult to act politically. That is why we decided to walk from the southernmost tip of India to Srinagar".

Explaining how the Congress came up with “Nafrat ki bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan kholi (opened a shop of love in the market of hatred) concept, Rahul said, "When we started the Yatra, we thought, let's see what happens. In 5-6 days, we realised walking thousands of kilometres is not an easy job. I had an old knee injury that started to act up. Then quite a surprising thing happened. After walking 25 km every day, I felt that I am not feeling tired at all. Everybody around me said that they were not feeling tired. It was not us that was walking, the whole of India was walking with us”.

“I realised that actually it was not us that was walking, it was India walking with us. And the large mass of people who were coming… all religion, all communities, kids… they were creating an atmosphere of love and affection… that nobody was feeling tired. All were walking together, and helping each other. And that’s where we came up with the idea: Nafrat ki bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan kholi ,” he added.

“Not just in India, 'Bharat Jodo' is an idea which is about respecting each other and being affectionate to each other. It is about not being violent towards each other, not being arrogant. And I did nothing compared to Guru Nanak Ji. I read that he walked to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. He was doing Bharat Jodo much before. In Karnataka, Basavana ji. In Kerala, Narayan Guruji, every state has had these giants," he added.

Tearing into BJP’s Hindutya agenda, Rahul said, "In India, we grew up with people of different languages, different religions. And that is what is being attacked. The tradition in India, of people like Gandhi Ji and Guru Nanak Ji, has been that you should not be under the impression of knowing everything. It is a 'disease' that some groups of India think that they know everything. Even if they have a conversation with God, they might explain to him," he said.

He went on to say, "And of course, Prime Minister is one of them. If you make him sit with God, he would start explaining to him (God) how the universe works...and God would get confused about what I had created." "They (BJP) can speak to scientists and explain science to them. They can explain history to historians, warfare to the army and flying to the air force. But at the heart of it, they don't know anything," he lamented.

"That's the tradition of our country. We have the ability to absorb any idea that comes. India has never rejected any idea. Everybody has been received with open arms. And their idea has been absorbed. India that respects everyone, India that is humble, India that is affectionate. And that's the India that you represent. You were not here if you had not believed in this. If you had believed in anger, hatred, arrogance, you would have gone to BJP, and I would have started 'Mann ki Baat'," Rahul Gandhi added.