After Karnataka, Congress is ready to “decimate” the BJP in Telangana and other state polls, Rahul Gandhi said during his US tour and emphasised that “it is not just the Congress party but the people of India who are going to defeat its hate-filled ideology.”
“We have shown in Karnataka that we can decimate the BJP…We did not defeat them, we decimated them. We smashed them in Karnataka,” Gandhi said on Saturday during a state dinner in New York.
He said in the Karnataka elections, the BJP “tried everything in the book, they had the entire media, they had 10 times the amount of money we had, they had the government, they had the agency. They had everything and then we decimated them,” Gandhi said.
“And I want you to know that we are going to decimate them in Telangana next,” he said to loud cheers and applause from the gathering.
“It will be hard to find the BJP in Telangana after this election.” Election in the southern Indian state is scheduled to be held later this year.
“It is not just the Congress party that is going to defeat the BJP. It is the people of India, the people of Madhya Pradesh, the people of Telangana, the people of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh who are going to defeat the BJP,” Gandhi said.
It is an ‘ideological battle’: Rahul Gandhi on LS polls 2023
Senior Congress leader said India has recognized the need to reject the divisive ideology of the BJP, and the opposition, including the Congress party, will unite against it in upcoming state elections and the 2024 national election.
He added that the reason for this is that “India has understood that it cannot go forward with the type of hatred that the BJP is spreading in society.”
“That is what is going to happen in the next few states. And then after that in 2024 we will do the same…The opposition is united, we are all working together. It is an ideological battle. On one side, there is a divisive ideology of the BJP, the hate-filled ideology of the BJP. On the other side, there is the affectionate, loving ideology of the Congress party,” he said.
He said in Karnataka, the BJP tried to polarise the election and create anger and hatred between communities.
“Prime Minister himself tried it. Did it work,” he said as the audience replied no.
Gandhi said the people of Karnataka declared that the election is about prices, unemployment and corruption.
Gandhi referred to his slogan made during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, during which he had said “Nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukan kholenge.”
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Updated: 04 Jun 2023, 12:48 PM IST