BJP wants a handful of people to control entire country: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for wishing to build a country where a "handful" of people "control" the entire country.

"BJP wants to build a country where a handful of people control the entire country, and because of this, millions and millions of people are drowning in poverty, youngsters can't dream of being employed," Rahul Gandhi said while addressing a public program on the 12th day of 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' at Kanichukulangara in the Alappuzha district of Kerala.

"Today we can see clearly that India is angry and violent. It is the BJP who has spread this anger and violence. It is in their DNA, and the result is that 4-5 people in this country make billions and billions of dollars."

Rahul Gandhi took a dig at businessman Gautam Adani, who recently came to the second position in the list of wealthiest persons in Forbes magazine.

"The second richest man in the world is from India. How can it be that the second richest man in the world is an Indian person and India has the highest unemployment rate? How can it be that we have the richest man and our people face the highest prices in the world? Is it something that we are going to just accept? A country where an average person cannot dream, cannot give education to his children, cannot take his parents to hospital, a youngster cannot dream of building a business? At the same time a handful of people monopolize their business," Rahul further added.

Gandhi also talked about the idea behind 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' and said that the idea belongs to old times and talks about inclusivity.

"The idea of Bharat Jodo Yatra is not a new one and is a very old idea in India. It has been mentioned and thought about many many great leaders. Sri Narayana Guru, Chattambiswamy, and Mahatma Ayyankali, of them, did basically the same thing. They said that a society that is filled with hatred, anger and violence cannot succeed. They understand that hatred and anger are just manifestations of fear. The source of anger, the source of hatred, and the source of violence is a lack of self-belief. It is only when you don't believe yourself you hate others and get angry with others and that was the message of these leaders," Rahul said.

There is a link between anger, hatred, violence and cowardice. People who believe in themselves never feel the need to hurt others. People who believe in themselves have the capacity to love others and that is what you have shown me in the last few days you have shown a self-confident Kerala. A Kerala that doesn't need the crutch of violence and hatred," Rahul added.

The MP from Wayanad also said that the nation is at risk and we will not allow RSS and BJP to rule the country

"Do you think that the country that is divided can solve the problems of unemployment and price rise? Do you think an angry society can build, hospitals, and roads and can educate its children? It's impossible for India to solve its problems if India is angry with itself, angry and violent. And who pays the price of this anger, hatred and violence, it is the common man," Rahul said.

"We will not allow the RSS and BJP to rule the country. We will not allow an India where millions of people are unemployed or drowning in high prices. That is the idea of this yatra that you are supporting and millions and millions of you are supporting, not only Congress people but common people and also some people from the left. Because everyone understands that the nation is at risk," Rahul further said.

The Congress leader also said that he had decided before that he will not travel by car as he wanted to have respect for people.

"At the time of discussion on Bharat Jodo Yatra in the Congress Party, I said clearly if you are going to do this by car, Rahul Gandhi won't go by car. If you want to do by a yatra, then have respect for the people of India, have respect for the people who can't drive in a car," Rahul said.

The Bharat Jodo yatra entered its 12th day on Monday. Over 200 kilometres have been covered till now.

The Yatra is in its Kerala leg and would traverse through the state for the next 12 days.

The 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir will be completed in 150 days and cover as many as 12 states. From Kerala, the Yatra will traverse through the state for the next 18 days, reaching Karnataka on September 30. It will be in Karnataka for 21 days before moving north. The Padyatra (march) will cover a distance of 25 km every day.