Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 battle cry: Like Kauravas vs Pandavas, fight between truth and lies

“Modiji thinks he is an avatar of God… Modi is not fighting corruption, he is corruption,” he said. Saying that Modi shares his name with “the one who carried out the biggest theft” (Nirav Modi) and “the most corrupt man in cricket” (Lalit Modi), Rahul said: “The name Modi symbolises the collusion between India’s biggest crony capitalists and the Prime Minister of India.”

He accused Modi of diverting attention from real problems like farm distress and unemployment with “fancy events” like “surgical strike, demonetisation, Gabbar Singh Tax (GST) and Yoga Day”. “If you are poor, your only choice is to become a farmer, labourer etc. You are destined to live in Modi’s maya — of an imaginary world of acche din, Swachh Bharat, or Rs 15 lakh in your bank account. They will look straight into your eyes and say the hunger pain in your stomach is your imagination… There are no jobs, the farmers are dying… The Prime Minister says, ‘let’s go do yoga’,” said Rahul.

Beginning his 50-minute-long speech with a reference to the Mahabharat, Rahul said: “Thousands of years ago, there was a huge battle on the fields of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were powerful and arrogant. They had money and muscle power. The Pandavas, who had lost everything, fought for the truth. Like the Kauravas, BJP and RSS are designed to fight for power; like the Pandavas, Congress is designed to fight for truth.”

Rahul said while people would accept a BJP ‘drunk with power’, they expected more from the Congress. (Express photo by Neeraj Priyadarshi)

He said that while people would accept a BJP “drunk with power”, they expected more from the Congress. “They will accept a person accused of murder as the BJP president. But they will never accept the same for the Congress… India expects much more from the Congress. India will not let us behave like the BJP. They will never let us lie. BJP is the voice of an organisation. But the Congress is the voice of the nation,” said Rahul.

Rahul admitted that his party had let down the people in the last few years, when the UPA was in power. (Express photo by Praveen Jain)

“The soil of this nation is drenched in the blood of Congressmen and Congresswomen. Gandhiji died for India. India must never forget that when our leaders were in jail, their leader, Savarkar, was writing a letter begging for mercy from the British,” he said.

Asserting that the Congress would take the country forward, he said: “But we are humans, we make mistakes. Modiji thinks he is not human but an incarnation of God… We did not stand up to the expectations of the people. The people were let down by us… Will India live a lie or does it have the courage to face the truth? India will punish us if we do nothing but make a grab for power.”

Calling for changes within the Congress, Rahul said: “Those who are seated in those back rows (pointing to the gallery) have the energy to change the world. But there is a wall between our leaders and them. My first job is to break down that wall. We will break it, not in rage but in love and respect for the seniors,” he said.

Targeting the RSS, Rahul raised the issues of Dalits being targeted in Una, and the killings of Gauri Lankesh and M M Kalburgi. (Express photo by Praveen Jain)

Maintaining that there were many manifestations of that wall, he made a reference to distribution of tickets to outsiders and parachuting them to a constituency, while denying tickets to a committed worker. “You are the worker, you have Congress in you, you will get the ticket,” he said. “We gave tickets to Congress workers in Gujarat, and Modiji was seen flying in seaplane. When we truly empower Congress workers, Prime Minister Modi will be seen in a submarine.”

Alleging that the corrupt and powerful control the conversation in the country, Rahul said while the BJP and its government talk about India emerging as the fastest growing economy, the youth don’t have jobs and the market is filled with products from China. “China is everywhere — in all our shops, in Doklam, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan and Bhutan. You can steal Rs 33,000 crore from the banks, the government will protect you. The Finance Minister and his daughter work for crony capitalists,” he alleged.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram and Ambika Soni share a light moment during the Congress plenary session on Sunday. (Express photo)

Targeting the RSS, Rahul raised the issues of Dalits being targeted in Una, and the killings of Gauri Lankesh and M M Kalburgi. “They tell the Muslims of India, who never went to Pakistan… you don’t belong here. They tell Tamils, change your beautiful language. They tell people of North-East, we don’t like what you eat. They tell women to dress properly,” he said.

Referring to the recent controversy involving the judiciary, Rahul said: “BJP has spread fear. People from the press are scared. People go to court to solve their disputes. For the first time, we saw four Supreme Court judges running to the public for justice… There is a difference between the RSS and Congress: we respect the country’s institutions, whereas they want to finish them. They want only one institution — the RSS,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh at the Congress plenary session on Sunday. (Express photo by Praveen Jain)

Outlining a vision for the party ahead of the next elections, Rahul said the priority of a Congress-led government, if the party comes to power, would be jobs, for which he wanted to link every district with skill development centres for the youth and banks for funds. Education and agriculture sectors would be the other priorities, he said.

“Education is not just for the elite. The right to education belongs to every youngster, every religion, every class. There are not enough IIMs and IITs. We will spread higher education to every corner of India,” he said. For the agriculture sector, he said farmers would be able to sell their produce to a network of food parks across the country.

Chidambaram and Rahul Gandhi at the Congress plenary session on Sunday. (Express photo by Anil Sharma)

“There are two visions before the world today — American and Chinese. My aim is to present an Indian vision to the world,” he said. Emphasising the power of the youth, he said: “To every youngster in India, we are your instrument. The Congress party belongs to you. We want to open our doors to your talent, your bravery and your energy. This country is struggling and it needs you.”

Rahul Gandhi called for changes within the Congress. (Express photo by Anil Sharma)

Pointing to the empty stage — in the past, senior party leaders would be seated on mattresses on the stage — Rahul said he had left it vacant to fill it with workers and talented youth. Saying that people placed their trust in Modi four years ago, he said: “But that trust is now broken… the youth of the country are now asking questions.”

Meanwhile, the AICC session authorised Rahul to elect the members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the decision-making body of the party.