Rahul Gandhi in Ahmedabad: ‘Congress will defeat BJP and Narendra Modi in Gujarat in 2027 like we did in Ayodhya’

“Congress will win Gujarat, and from Gujarat, a new Congress party will be formed. Where was Congress formed? Our biggest leader who showed us the way when the Britishers were ruling us was Mahatma Gandhi, who gave this slogan of daro mat darao mat and the fire started from Gujarat. If today the Congress party exists, the ideology and the thinking started in Gujarat,” said Rahul in his address to party workers in Ahmedabad.

Speaking about the attack on the Congress state headquarters, Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan in Ahmedabad in the early hours of July 2, Rahul said, “This is where they broke our office. I thought we would teach them (the BJP) a lesson; Unki sarkar ko todne ja rahe hain (We will break their government).”

He said that the big difference between the BJP and the Congress is that while nobody is scared in the Congress, everybody is scared of Modi in the BJP.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Ahmedabad on Saturday. (Nirmal Harindran)

“I am here to tell you that they have attacked you in your office, you do not have to be scared nor cause scare. We will defeat Narendra Modi and the BJP in Gujarat as we did in Ayodhya (in Lok Sabah elections in 2024). Our workers who are babbar sher will defeat them. You have to do one thing: Tell Gujarat’s people that they do not have to be scared, and if you fight the BJP without any fear, be it farmers or labourers, the BJP will not be able to stand in front of you,” said Rahul.

However, listing out weaknesses in Gujarat Congress, Rahul said he was told by a Congress worker that there are two types of horses – one for racing and the other for weddings. “I was told that sometimes the Congress swaps both. Get this stopped. So we have to do this in Gujarat. Those who want to run and are ready to race, we will let them do so.”

“We have to do this seriously. In our previous elections (2022 Assembly elections), we did not fight the BJP properly. In 2017, it was only three-four months that we fought, and the result you saw. When we lost by 16 seats in three months, then in three years we will certainly win in Gujarat. If you fight and change the mindset of the remaining 50 per cent of people (who do not believe that Congress will win), things will change. The entire Congress party, the team, including myself and my sister, will stand here. You have already suffered a lot, humiliated, beaten with sticks, but now it is enough; we will defeat them not with hatred but with love,” the MP from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh assured his party workers.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Ahmedabad on Saturday. (Nirmal Harindran)

Speaking about the preparations, he said the BJP was shaken by the Congress’s manifesto during the Lok Sabha elections 2024. “We have to make a similar one for Gujarat after meeting and talking to lakhs of people from Gujarat, we will give a vision to Gujarat and defeat the BJP. Narendra Modi’s vision, the bubble, has burst. Imagine a person who thinks himself to be non-biological and everyone else to be biological. How will he give a vision to Gujarat, to those working in the diamond industry, labourers, farmers,” he added.

Rahul said that during the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s entire movement was focused on Ram Mandir and Ayodhya, the movement Advani (former deputy Prime Minister L K Advani) started with the Rath Yatra.

“It is said that Narendra Modi helped Advani in that Rath Yatra, they started from there. They inaugurated Ram Mandir, and there were Adani and Ambani, but no poor person was seen at the mandir. The BJP’s entire politics was Ayodhya politics; they inaugurated the mandir and politicised Lord Ram. When I used to speak to people in Ayodhya, they would say that for the temple construction land from a lot of people was taken, their shops and houses were broken, and till date, Modi has not compensated them,” he said, adding that for the international airport in Ayodhya, farmers’ land was taken and till date, they had not got the right compensation.

“Third, Ayodhya people got very angry when they saw that not even a single person from Ayodhya was invited to the inauguration. The movement started by Advani, the centre of Ayodhya, has been defeated by INDIA Bloc. Ask any Samajwadi leader, he will tell you that Congress workers like you stood with us like a babbar sher (lion). The Congress committed one or two mistakes in Varanasi, else Modi would have lost there, too. He had to run for his life from Kashi, where he won by nearly one lakh margin,” Rahul said.

Referring to the Congress sign, Rahul said, “You will find this in every religion with only one meaning-daro mat darao mat (do not fear and do not scare).