New Delhi: They held their breath, anticipating a battle cry. Rahul Gandhi calmly rested his case on the dichotomy between the Congress and the BJP, asking the people to decide whether India would live a lie or face the truth.
Addressing the concluding session of the AICC plenary, Rahul used the Kaurava-Pandava analogy from the Mahabharata to explain the differences between the ideologies of the RSS-BJP and the Congress instead of making boastful claims and lofty promises to counter the dreamy “achchhe din” narrative.
“In the battle of Kurukshetra, the powerful Kauravas were organised and had the resources. But the Pandavas fought for truth. The RSS-BJP, like Kauravas, are designed to fight for power. The Congress is designed to fight for truth. The question is: will India live a lie or face the truth?” Rahul said.
“The BJP is the voice of its organisation; the Congress the voice of the nation. The question is: Are you destined to live in Narendra Modi’s maya (illusion) – achchhe din, Swachh Bharat, Rs 15 lakh in your account – or (will) you find solutions to the employment crisis and the agrarian distress?
He explained how the people use different yardsticks to judge the two parties. “They know the BJP lies but they will not let the Congress lie. The nation has much higher standards for the Congress.”
Contending that the two parties are different species, Rahul recalled the freedom struggle, telling the party workers that India’s soil was drenched with Congress blood. “While our leaders like Mahatma Gandhi remained in jail, their leader Savarkar begged for mercy,” he said.
Not that Rahul did not attack Narendra Modi. Amid loud cheers, he said: “The youth pushed Narendra Modi’s car in the fond hope of getting a lift. The car started and sped away, taking Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. The youth were left stranded. Nirav Modi… even the name is the same. The most corrupt man in cricket, his name is also the same (Lalit Modi) as our PM.”
Then came a nasty barb: “Modi stands for collusion between India’s biggest crony capitalists and India’s Prime Minister.” He accused Arun Jaitley of inaction on the banking fraud.
“They keep you busy… demonetisation, surgical strike, yoga. And when there is a need for the PM to speak, he will fall silent and try to silence everybody else,” Rahul said.
Rahul did not shy away from extending his comparative analysis of the BJP and the Congress to the sensitive issue of religion. Contending that the BJP used religion only to snatch power, he said: “They questioned my temple visits in Gujarat. I always go to temples, much before the Gujarat elections. But I also go to the mosque, the church and the gurdwara.”
He narrated his experience with two priests – one Congress-minded and the other BJP-minded. “After the rituals, I asked the priest what he had done. One said, ‘Let us do these rituals but you understand that God is everywhere’. The other refused to answer the question, saying, ‘I have done the puja, now you will become the PM. Once you become (PM), please ensure the roof of the temple gets gold plating’.”
