In a fresh attack on the ruling BJP, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the saffron party of spreading hatred in every corner of the country.
Addressing a rally after paying tributes to veteran Congress leader Patangarao Kadam, Gandhi said, “BJP is spreading hatred in every corner of the country. This is not a new thing, they have been doing it since long. This battle of ideologies is old. Today this fight is between BJP and Congress.”
“People from the BJP want to finish the Constitution. They want to keep their own people in every department. Today there is only one type of merit in India. If you belong to RSS then there is merit. If you are not from RSS, there is no place for you,” he said.
Referring to his Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi said, “During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, we walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, lakhs of people were with us.
Our only goal was to open a ‘nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan’ (shop of love in the market of hatred) because we do not want an India of hatred. We want an India of love.”
Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the collapse of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the state recently, he said, “A few days back, the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj collapsed here. After this Narendra Modi ji said I apologize to Shivaji Maharaj. There can be different reasons for apologizing… The contract for this statue may have been given to someone from RSS.. Perhaps, the PM is saying that I should have given the contract on merit. There may have been corruption in the making of the statue… The PM is apologizing for this.”
Notably, during his recent visit to Maharashtra, apologised for the collapse of the statue.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House lauded the people of Maharashtra and asserted that they had the Congress DNA in them.
Gandhi also reiterated his commitment to carrying out the caste census in the country.