Rahul Gandhi pounces on BJP’s nationalism plank
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, August 9: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a front attack on the nationalism poll plank of the Bharatiya Janata Party while speaking on the debate on the no confidence motion against Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre. Gandhi accused the BJP of murdering “mother India in Manipur”.
“You have killed my mother in Manipur. You have killed India in Manipur. Your politics has killed India in Manipur,” charged Gandhi in his short speech during which he was heckled by the treasury benches, including ministers, who sought to disrupt the Congress leader from speaking.
Gandhi also charged that “Narendra Modi listens only to two persons — Amit Shah and Adani — as was the case with Ravana who listened to Meghnad and Kumbhkarna. Ravana was not killed by Ram. Ravana was killed by his ahankar”. “You have set fire across the country, from Haryana to Manipur with your hate politics,” added Gandhi.
Initiating the discussion on the no confidence motion, Gandhi said: “Today, the treasury benches can sit relaxed because I will not be speaking of Adani. Last time when I raised the issue of Adani, the BJP members were deeply disturbed.”
The Congress leader gave an account of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. He claimed that the “Yatra annihilated his ahankar (arrogance)” when he heard the true voice of India. Gandhi also spoke of his acute knee pain in the earlier days of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
By building the context for his main focus of the speech, Gandhi recalled his experiences of the Manipur visit. “I met a women in a relief camp. Her only child was shot dead in her presence. She had spent whole night lying with the body of her son. Soon she felt dreadful and ran away from her home with just one photograph of her son,” said Gandhi.
The Congress leader shared another account of one more woman. “When I asked her what happened with you, she started trembling and fell unconscious,” added Gandhi. After sharing his experiences of meeting the victims in the relief camps of Manipur, Gandhi launched a tirade against the BJP.
“You (the BJP) are not Desh Bhakt (patriot). You have killed Manipur. You have killed India,” charged Gandhi. Gandhi was heckled by the BJP MPs, who raised slogans and shouted at him.
The BJP fielded, as per a pattern, Smriti Irani, Union Minister, to speak in the debate, and she richly shared incidents from the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir to argue that the Congress had no locus standi to speak on the issue of the Manipur violence.
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