 "Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi meeting with panelists during the National Conference of RGICS in celebration of the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru in New Delhi")
In a no-holds-barred attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi today said, “For the first time in the history of our country, a fascist organisation that is openly opposed to the ideology and values of the Constitution has acquired decisive power over the Union. The stated purpose of RSS is to establish a theocratic, autocratic state in India.” Speaking at the end of a two-day conference to commemorate Jawaharlal Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary, Gandhi stated emphatically, “You will see Congress will not just defeat, but smash RSS and BJP.” The conference brought together several academics, intellectuals and liberals, voicing their protests against the growing atmosphere of intolerance in the country.
To counter the protests by intellectuals, actor Anupam Kher alongwith director Madhur Bhandarkar led a march to President Pranab Mukherjee’s residence, voicing concern over the “wrong projection” of India by those returning their awards. With reports of participants in the march hurling abuses at the intellectual fraternity and even women journalists being heckled, the Aam Aadmi Party hit out at BJP and the organisers. Meanwhile, the two-day conference, titled “Securing Nehru’s legacy and India’s future”, witnessed several panel discussions with leading intellectuals causing the ruling BJP to question the secular credentials of Congress.
As if in response, Gandhi listed out in detail, the incidents of lynching, intolerance and murder. He then asserted, “Secularism is in the blood of Congress and it simply cannot be removed... This is the DNA of our organisation and we just have to reinvigorate that and you will see Congress. You will see Congress defeat, and not just defeat, but smash RSS and BJP.”
Recalling Nehru’s famous statement, “There can be no peace without freedom or freedom without peace”, Gandhi said, adding that Nehru was a deeply tolerant man. “What brings us together today is our deep concern about the assault on our liberty, on our rights and our democratic space. We are here because both peace and freedom have been viciously wounded in our country.”
Reaching out to intellectuals and scholars, he said it is a time for Congress and them to re-establish a relationship and have a discussion to bring out the ideas that are going to help the party defeat RSS.
