Rahul was addressing a rally in his former constituency Amethi, after participating in a “padayatra” to “bhagao BJP, remove Mehndi” as a part of the Congress party’s ongoing nationwide campaign ‘Jan Jagran Abhiyan’.
The Congress leader focused his attack on the prime minister’s recent visit to Varanasi, during which he took a holy dip in the Ganges, saying that “a Hindutvavadi bathes alone, a Hindu bathes with crores of people.”
“A ‘Hindutvawadi’ bathes alone in the Ganges, while a Hindu bathes with crores of people… Narendra Modi says he is a Hindu, but when did he protect the truth? He urged people to get rid of Covid asked to break the plates for … ” A male name said.
He said that this is the first time he has seen a person taking a dip in the Ganges alone.
Congress MP from Wayanad said, “First time I saw only one person taking bath in Ganga, Yogi ji was removed, Rajnath Singh sidelined…”
Rahul called Mahatma Gandhi the best example of “a Hindu” and said that a Hindu is one who follows the path of truth and never gives up on fear or turns it into violence or anger.
“Mahatma Gandhi spent his whole life understanding the truth and then there is [Nathuram] Godse – ‘Hindutvawadi’. no one calls him [Godse] A Mahatma because he killed a Hindu who always spoke the truth… Godse was a coward, a weak man… He could not face his fear.”
The former Congress president also took a jibe at the BJP government at the state and the Center over development issues, saying that unemployment and inflation are two big questions, on which both PM Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are not ready to pay attention.
“Middle class people and poor were badly affected by some of the decisions taken by the PM, which also resulted in massive unemployment. Demonetisation, wrongly implicated GST, no help during the Covid crisis leading to unemployment in India There are reasons,” he said.
The Congress had launched a “Jan Jagran Abhiyan” on November 14 to “expose” the mismanagement of the economy by the Centre.
Notably, Gandhi visited Amethi after almost two and a half years.
Rahul Gandhi represented Amethi, the stronghold of the Nehru-Gandhi family, for 15 years. Lok Sabha, He contested from two constituencies in 2019 and lost in Amethi but won from Wayanad in Kerala.
Rahul was accompanied by his sister and national general secretary of Congress. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,
Earlier visit of Congress leaders Meeting Elections are to be held early next year.
In the 2017 assembly elections, BJP had won 312 assembly seats. The party secured 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections to the 403-member assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) won 47 seats, BSP 19 seats, while Congress could win only seven seats.
(with inputs from agencies)
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