New Delhi:

Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi’s remarks at events in the US, Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said it has become a habit for the Congress leader to stand with “forces that conspire to divide the country”.

“Standing with forces that conspire to divide the country and making anti-national statements have become a habit for Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. Whether it is supporting the JKNC’s anti-national and anti-reservation agenda in J&K or making anti-India statements on foreign platforms, Rahul Gandhi has always threatened the nation’s security and hurt sentiments,” Mr Shah said in a post on X.

Standing with forces that conspire to divide the country and making anti-national statements have become a habit for Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. Whether it is supporting the JKNC’s anti-national and anti-reservation agenda in J&K or making anti-India statements on…

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) September 11, 2024

“Rahul Gandhi’s statement lays bare the Congress’s politics of causing rifts on the lines of regionalism, religion, and linguistic differences. By speaking about abolishing reservations in the country, Rahul Gandhi has once again brought the Congress’s anti-reservation face to the forefront. The thoughts that were in his mind eventually found their way out as words,” he added.

“I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that as long as the BJP is there, neither can anyone abolish reservations nor can anyone mess with the nation’s security,” the Home Minister said.

Mr Shah was responding to Mr Gandhi’s remarks at an interaction with students at Georgetown University in the US. Responding to a question on reservation, Mr Gandhi replied, “We will think of scrapping reservations when India is a fair place and India is not a fair place.”

The BJP responded by alleging that the Congress’s leader campaign to save the Constitution was a “charade” and his prejudice against reservation is out in the open.

Opposition to reservation is Rahul Gandhi’s legacy, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, saying that former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were also against caste-based reservation.

Mr Prasad said other members of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc — DMK chief M K Stalin, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and leaders of the Left parties — should speak out on Mr Gandhi’s remarks.

“I want to warn (people) that if the Congress tries to tamper with the provision of reservation in any way or scrap it, the BJP will vehemently oppose it,” he said.

The BJP’s offensive against Rahul Gandhi also needs to be seen against the backdrop of the upcoming Assembly polls in key states such as Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The party, which is on the backfoot after its Lok Sabha poll score dropped this time, wants to use Mr Gandhi’s remarks to project the Opposition as anti-reservation in an attempt to swing voters.   

Washington:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, speaking at the National Press Club in Washington DC, said that our party was politically forced to take up the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Nyay Yatra because all the instruments that normally work in a democracy were not working.

He said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Nyay Yatra were the only ways to connect with Indians.

“We were forced politically to take out the Yatra because all the instruments that normally work in a democracy, they just were not working….The media was not working, the courts were not working…nothing was working so we said, okay, let’s go direct. We went and it worked…It worked beautifully. This was at the political level and my work level but as an individual, at the private level, I always wanted to do it. I always wanted to do it since I was young. I always had this idea that I must, at some point in my life, walk across my country and see what it’s about…” Mr Gandhi said on Tuesday (local time).

He said that politics in India changed in 2014, PM Narendra Modi’s first term as the Prime Minister.

“I think politics in India changed in 2014. We entered a phase of politics we never saw before. Aggressive, attacking the foundations of our democratic structures. It’s been a tough fight. And personally, it changed me,” he said.

“I wouldn’t have ever imagined before 2014 that I would have laughed at the idea of walking from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. But, that was the only way left for the opposition in our country. Media was suppressed, institutions were controlled, agencies were attacking the opposition, and governments were overthrown. We found that literally the only way to go to the people of India. That certainly changed me,” the Congress leader further said.

Explaining his Yatras, Rahul Gandhi said, “One march was on foot, and the other was by car. One went from South India all the way to Kashmir- that was by foot… [which was] 4,000km. Other one was from Manipur which, as you know, is burning to Maharashtra.”

LIVE: Interaction With Media | Headliners Newsmaker | National Press Club | Washington DC, USA https://t.co/RfTpIr2Znk

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 10, 2024

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa hit out at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi Tuesday after the latter’s comment – the fight between their two parties is over an ideological divide and “… whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear a turban… wear a kada (the steel bangle) … go to a gurdwara”.

Mr Sirsa accused him of using “hateful words” towards the Sikh community and said, “He (Mr Gandhi) said Sikhs in India are fighting for their identity and right to practice their religion.”

“Your dirty politics is diving the country. You have stooped so low that you allege that Sikhs in India cannot wear turbans and kada… you say Sikhs and gurdwaras are not safe in India.”

“I condemn his words. Our Prime Minister wears the turban to gurdwaras…he respects Sikhism,” Mr Sirsa, the BJP’s National Secretary, said in a video statement released this morning.

Mr Sirsa remined Mr Gandhi Sikhs had occupied some of the highest offices in the country.

“India is proud of its Sikhs. You used gurdwara, dastar or pagh (turban), kada and kripaan (the curved blade wielded by Khalsa Sikhs) to spread hate in your heart against Sikhs…” he alleged.

Mr Gandhi, interacting with Indian diaspora an event in Virginia in the United States, had underlined the fight between the BJP and the opposition, much of which has banded together under the INDIA umbrella to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, is ideological.

He had also stressed this fight is “for all religions”.

“First of all… you have to understand what the fight is about. It is not about politics… that is superficial. The fight is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India… or if a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear a kada in India… or if a Sikh is going to be able to go to a gurdwara. That is what the fight is about and (it is) not just for a Sikh. It is for all religions.”

Mr Gandhi pointed to people from various Indian states in his audience and underscored the wealth of “history… language… tradition” that each state brings to the country.

“I can see in the crowd people from Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala… (you think) Punjab is a simple word… but it is not a simple word. This is your history, your language, your tradition. Your entire imagination is in this word…” he said.

During his events in the US Mr Gandhi launched veiled attacks on the BJP and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, stating that neither understood India is for all.

Using a plate of food, a thali, as an example, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said, “In India everything works together…if someone says rice is more important than dal (in a thali) and vegetable are the least important, what will happen? That is what BJP does,” he said.

READ | Rahul Gandhi’s “Thali, Chawal, Dal, Sabji” Attack On RSS In US

Mr Gandhi also spoke out on the Congress’ bank accounts being sealed shortly before the April-June general election, which left the party, he said, without funds for campaigning.

READ | Rahul Gandhi On Congress Accounts Being Sealed Before Polls

However, he said something had “changed” in India after the election, in which the INDIA bloc stopped the BJP from an outright majority and left it relying on the NDA to form the government.

The BJP did not take the jabs lying down, and counter-accused Mr Gandhi of insulting India.

READ | RSS Believes Women Should Stay At Home: Rahul Gandhi. BJP Reacts

BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari told news agency ANI Mr Gandhi is “eager to bat for China”. “Rahul does not stop here, he attacks the Indian legal system just because he is out on bail. He predicts social tension in India just because it is his strategy to divide and rule.”

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New Delhi:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said he doesn’t hate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In fact, he empathises with him. At an interaction in Georgetown University in US’ Washington DC, Mr Gandhi said, “You will be surprised, but I don’t actually hate Mr Modi. He has got a point of view, I don’t agree with his point of view, but I don’t hate him.”

I don’t hate Mr. Modi.

He has a point of view; I don’t agree with the point of view, but I don’t hate him.

He has a different perspective, and I have a different perspective.

: Shri @RahulGandhi at the Georgetown University

Washington DC pic.twitter.com/y3p5OW4CTE

— Congress (@INCIndia) September 10, 2024

“In fact, in many moments, I empathise with him. It’s not that I think that he is my enemy. He’s got a different point of view, I have got a different point of view. I have empathy and compassion for what he is doing. And I think that’s a much better place to be in instead of him versus me. I don’t think that’s productive,” said the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, who is on a three-day visit to the US.

The Congress leader has addressed several interactions during his trip to the US and spoken on wide-ranging issues. His remarks have come under sharp criticism by the BJP, which has accused him of insulting India abroad.

Targeting the BJP’s ideological parent RSS, Mr Gandhi told a gathering in Texas that the RSS believes India is one idea, while the Congress considers it a multiplicity of ideas. “That is the fight,” he said. Speaking on the low participation of Indian women in the workforce, the Congress leader said the attitude of a large number of Indian men towards women is ridiculous. This attitude, he said, was also part of the ideological fight between the BJP and the Opposition. “BJP/RSS believe that women should be restricted to a particular role, they should stay at home, cook food, they should not talk too much, we believe women should be allowed to aspire to whatever they want to do,” he said.

Mr Gandhi also said the “fear of BJP” had vanished after the Lok Sabha poll results. “Within minutes of the election result, nobody was scared of the BJP and the Prime Minister of India. These are huge achievements, not of Rahul Gandhi or Congress, but of the people of India who realised we are not going to accept an attack on the Constitution,” he said.

Speaking on the unemployment issue in India, the Congress leader drew a comparison with China.

“The West has an employment problem. India has an employment problem… But many countries in the world don’t have an employment problem. China certainly doesn’t have an employment problem. Vietnam doesn’t have an employment problem. So there are places on the planet that are not struggling with unemployment.

There’s a reason. If you look at the United States in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, they were the centre of global production. Anything that was made, cars, washing machines, TVs, all made in the United States. Production moved from the United States. It went to Korea, it went to Japan. Eventually, it went to China. If you look today, China is dominating global production… So what has happened? The West, America, Europe, and India have given up on the idea of production and they’ve handed it to China. The act of production creates jobs. What we do, what the Americans do, what the West does, is we organise consumption,” he said.

The ruling BJP slammed Mr Gandhi’s remarks and said he is a “black spot” on Indian democracy.

“Everyone knows that Rahul Gandhi is an immature and part-time leader. But people have put a huge responsibility on his shoulders since he became the Leader of Opposition,” BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia told the media. “But I feel sad to say that Rahul Gandhi is a black spot in Indian democracy. He does not even know what to talk about when he visits a foreign country,” he said.

Mr Bhatia said Mr Gandhi cannot “utter a single word or give a statement against China”. “He weakens India…. He stands by China,” the BJP leader said, claiming that the Congress signed a “party-to-party MoU with China” during its rule.

“The series of efforts that Rahul Gandhi has been making to weaken Indian democracy is the outcome of that MoU. If I am wrong, I dare Rahul Gandhi and (Congress president) Mallikarjun Kharge to make the MoU public,” he said.

Responding to the BJP’s barbs, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has said Mr Gandhi has never defamed India. “He (Rahul Gandhi) has never defamed India and will never do so, this is our promise. BJP people need an excuse, and they raise such issues all the time.”

Washington DC:

Speaking at Washington DC metro area on Monday (local time), Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the Indians in the US are the bridge between the two countries.

The Congress leader said that the Indian diaspora has two identities- that of the US and India. They can transfer the US and Indian ideas back and forth.

“You are the bridge between these two great unions of states. And you make us very proud because we understand that what it meant for you to come here. We understand the difficulties and struggles you faced. But when you came here, you came with humility, respect and affection… You did not say that United States is inferior to us, or that you hate the United States… You are proud of India and proud of the United States,” he said.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said that the Congress’s message is to spread love, not hatred.

“As per the BJP, you cannot have two identities. You cannot be an Indian, and at the same time an American. That is what the fight is about… We are saying that don’t spread hatred, spread love. Don’t be arrogant, be humble. Don’t disrespect people, communities, religions, traditions, languages… If you don’t do this, you will never be successful… You will take American ideas and values back home and will bring Indian values, traditions and ideas to the United States. You will help both states by doing this,” he said.

He alleged that the RSS does not understand India.

“And the problem is, these people don’t understand India… India is called a union of states. In the Constitution it is written clearly- India, that is Bharat, is a union of states. It means it is a union of languages, traditions, histories, music, or dance,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi alleged that the RSS believes that certain states and communities are inferior to others.

“The RSS is saying that certain states, languages, religions and communities are inferior to others. This is what the fight is about. We are of the opinion that… all of you have your history, tradition and language. Every single one of them is as important as any other one. What would you do if somebody told you that you cannot speak Tamil? How would you feel? How would you react? That is the ideology of the RSS- That Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Manipuri- are all inferior languages. It ends up in the polling booth, Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. But the fight is about what type of India we are going to have. Are we going to have an India where people are allowed to believe what they want to believe?… Or we are going to have an India where only few people can decide what is going to happen,” the Congress leader said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Love, respect and humility are missing in Indian politics, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said in his address to the Indian American community in Texas, where he also criticised the RSS for believing that India is “one idea”.

Mr Gandhi made the remarks on Sunday in Dallas during his first interaction with Indian expatriates after becoming Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha this summer.

“RSS believes that India is one idea. We believe that India is a multiplicity of ideas,” he said.

“Very much like the United States, we believe everybody should be allowed to participate. We believe that everybody should be allowed to dream, (and) everybody should be given space, regardless of their caste, language, religion, tradition, history,” he said.

“This is the fight. The fight crystallised in the election when millions of people in India clearly understood that the Prime Minister of India was attacking the Constitution of India. Because what I am saying to you is the union of states, respect to languages, respect to religions, respect to traditions, respect to caste. This is all in the Constitution,” Mr Gandhi added.

In his address, Mr Gandhi said his role was to inject values of love, respect and humility into Indian politics.

“I think what is missing in our political systems and across parties is love, respect and humility. Love to all human beings, not necessarily only people of one religion, one community, one caste, one State, or to those who speak one language,” he said.

“Respect to everybody who is trying to build an India, not just the most powerful, but the weakest and humility, not in others, but in oneself. I think that is how I see my own,” he added.

Making an indirect reference to the Lok Sabha results in which the BJP failed to get a majority on its own, Mr Gandhi said, “The people were saying the BJP is attacking our tradition, attacking our language, etc. What they understood was that anybody who is attacking the Constitution of India is also attacking our religious tradition.”

“We saw that immediately, within minutes of the election result, nobody in India was scared of the BJP, of the Prime Minister. These are huge achievements. These are huge achievements of the people of India who realised democracy, of the people of India who realised that we are not going to accept an attack on our Constitution. We’re not going to accept an attack on our religion. We’re not going to accept an attack on our States,” he said.

Asserting that the US needs India and vice versa, Mr Gandhi said the Indian expatriates are a “bridge” between the two nations.

“In my view, you should travel freely between these two homes. You should bring the idea of India to the United States and the ideas of the United States to India,” Mr Gandhi said in his remarks.

“You have a very important role because the relationship between these two unions is going to determine the future of both” the countries, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

India, the US and other countries in the West are facing the problem of unemployment while China isn’t as it is dominating global production, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said, underscoring the need to focus on manufacturing in India.

During an interaction with students at the University of Texas in Dallas on Sunday, Mr Gandhi said there is no shortage of skills in India and the country could compete with China if it starts aligning itself for production.

He also stressed the need to encourage vocational training to bridge the gap between the business system and the education system and flagged the “ideological capture” of the latter.

Read: “If You’re Positioned Properly, It’s An Opportunity”: Rahul Gandhi On AI

Mr Gandhi is on a four-day unofficial trip to the US during which he will interact with the members of the Indian diaspora and youths with stops in Dallas, Texas and Washington DC. He also plans to meet lawmakers and senior officials of the US government during his visit to Washington DC beginning Monday.

He arrived in Dallas on Saturday night and was welcomed by dozens of members of the Indian-American community led by senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda and president of Indian National Overseas Congress, USA, Mohinder Gilzian.

Read: “Bharat Jodo Yatra Introduced The Idea Of Love In Politics”: Rahul Gandhi In US

“The West has an employment problem. India has an employment problem… But many countries in the world don’t have an employment problem. China certainly doesn’t have an employment problem. Vietnam doesn’t have an employment problem,” Mr Gandhi said.

“If you look at the United States in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, they were the centre of global production. Anything that was made, (be it) cars, washing machines (or) TVs, all was made in the United States. Production moved from the United States. It went to Korea and it went to Japan. Eventually, it went to China. If you look today, China is dominating global production,” he said.

The West, America, Europe and India have “given up on the idea of production” and they’ve handed it to China.

“The act of production creates jobs. What we do, what the Americans do, what the West does, is we organise consumption… India has to think about the act of production and organising production…”

“It’s not acceptable that India simply says, okay, manufacturing, what you call manufacturing or production is going to be the preserve of the Chinese. It’s going to be the preserve of the Vietnamese. It’s going to be the preserve of Bangladesh,” Mr Gandhi said.

He underlined the need to encourage manufacturing.

“Until we do that, we will face high levels of unemployment. And frankly, it’s not sustainable. So, you’re going to see that if we carry on down this path of forgetting about manufacturing, you’re going to see massive social problems coming in India and in the United States and Europe. The polarisation of our politics is because of this…” he added.

According to the leader of opposition, there is no shortage of skills in India.

“Many people say that India has a problem with skills. I don’t think India has a problem with skills. I think… India does not have respect for people who possess skills,” he said.

Mr Gandhi said there is a need to link the education system with the business system through vocational training.

“Bridging that gap or linking these two systems, skills and education, through vocational training is fundamental. I think currently the huge problem with the education system is the ideological capture, where ideology is being fed through it…,” he said.

He said he is convinced that India can take on China if it starts aligning itself for production and starts respecting skills.

“I’m absolutely convinced of it. States like Tamil Nadu have already shown it. It’s not that Indian states have not done it. Pune has shown it. Maharashtra has shown it. So, it is being done but it’s not being done at the scale and with the coordination that it needs to be done,” Mr Gandhi said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

India, the US and other countries in the West are facing the problem of unemployment while China isn’t as it is dominating global production, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said, underscoring the need to focus on manufacturing in India.

During an interaction with students at the University of Texas in Dallas on Sunday, Mr Gandhi said there is no shortage of skills in India and the country could compete with China if it starts aligning itself for production.

He also stressed the need to encourage vocational training to bridge the gap between the business system and the education system and flagged the “ideological capture” of the latter.

Read: “If You’re Positioned Properly, It’s An Opportunity”: Rahul Gandhi On AI

Mr Gandhi is on a four-day unofficial trip to the US during which he will interact with the members of the Indian diaspora and youths with stops in Dallas, Texas and Washington DC. He also plans to meet lawmakers and senior officials of the US government during his visit to Washington DC beginning Monday.

He arrived in Dallas on Saturday night and was welcomed by dozens of members of the Indian-American community led by senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda and president of Indian National Overseas Congress, USA, Mohinder Gilzian.

Read: “Bharat Jodo Yatra Introduced The Idea Of Love In Politics”: Rahul Gandhi In US

“The West has an employment problem. India has an employment problem… But many countries in the world don’t have an employment problem. China certainly doesn’t have an employment problem. Vietnam doesn’t have an employment problem,” Mr Gandhi said.

“If you look at the United States in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, they were the centre of global production. Anything that was made, (be it) cars, washing machines (or) TVs, all was made in the United States. Production moved from the United States. It went to Korea and it went to Japan. Eventually, it went to China. If you look today, China is dominating global production,” he said.

The West, America, Europe and India have “given up on the idea of production” and they’ve handed it to China.

“The act of production creates jobs. What we do, what the Americans do, what the West does, is we organise consumption… India has to think about the act of production and organising production…”

“It’s not acceptable that India simply says, okay, manufacturing, what you call manufacturing or production is going to be the preserve of the Chinese. It’s going to be the preserve of the Vietnamese. It’s going to be the preserve of Bangladesh,” Mr Gandhi said.

He underlined the need to encourage manufacturing.

“Until we do that, we will face high levels of unemployment. And frankly, it’s not sustainable. So, you’re going to see that if we carry on down this path of forgetting about manufacturing, you’re going to see massive social problems coming in India and in the United States and Europe. The polarisation of our politics is because of this…” he added.

According to the leader of opposition, there is no shortage of skills in India.

“Many people say that India has a problem with skills. I don’t think India has a problem with skills. I think… India does not have respect for people who possess skills,” he said.

Mr Gandhi said there is a need to link the education system with the business system through vocational training.

“Bridging that gap or linking these two systems, skills and education, through vocational training is fundamental. I think currently the huge problem with the education system is the ideological capture, where ideology is being fed through it…,” he said.

He said he is convinced that India can take on China if it starts aligning itself for production and starts respecting skills.

“I’m absolutely convinced of it. States like Tamil Nadu have already shown it. It’s not that Indian states have not done it. Pune has shown it. Maharashtra has shown it. So, it is being done but it’s not being done at the scale and with the coordination that it needs to be done,” Mr Gandhi said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Texas:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi began his three-day visit to the US, arriving in Dallas, Texas, on Sunday, where he was warmly welcomed by members of the Indian diaspora and the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC).

Taking to his social media, the Congress leader shared the pictures of his welcome and wrote, “I am truly delighted by the warm welcome I’ve received in Dallas, Texas, USA, from the Indian Diaspora and members of the Indian Overseas Congress.”

“I eagerly look forward to engaging in meaningful discussions and insightful conversations that will further strengthen the bond between our two nations during this visit,” he added.

This is Rahul Gandhi’s first trip to America since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress leader will be in Dallas, Texas, on September 8 and in Washington, DC, on September 9-10.

Earlier, announcing Rahul Gandhi’s visit, IOC chief Sam Pitroda said that the Indian diaspora, including NRI residents, technocrats, business leaders, students, media fraternity and even political leaders, are eager to welcome the Congress MP and are looking forward to having an interaction with him.

“There are lots of events planned with a variety of people because they also have interest in the states where Congress party runs governments, particularly the tech cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. We see great interest in conversation with business and technological community,” he further informed.

“We look forward to a very successful visit and look forward to welcoming Rahul Gandhi to the US,” Pitroda said on a concluding note.

He also said that he was ‘bombarded’ with questions about Rahul Gandhi’s US visit from various quarters, and this video message was apparently to inform them about the Congress leader’s short but highly anticipated trip to the US.

Notably, Rahul Gandhi, after the 2024 Lok Sabha results, has been creating good momentum and garnering people’s support with his views on many issues of public interest. Political watchers anticipate his US visit to be more newsworthy and stir larger controversy back home this time.

Rahul won elections from two Lok Sabha constituencies – Rae Bareli and Wayanad, however, he chose to retain the former and leave the latter for his sister, Priyanka Gandhi.

In June this year, he was appointed the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha after getting a nod from the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)