Continuing his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Gautam Adani controversy, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Sunday said the two were “one” and that he would keep asking questions about the industrialist till the truth came out. Addressing the AICC plenary session here, Rahul devoted half of his 50-minute speech to the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Talking about how “thousands of Kashmiri youths” waved the national flag when the yatra reached Kashmir, he also questioned the BJP’s nationalism plank. “In one of the most terrorism-affected states in India, you saw the Tricolour wherever you looked. Who were these people waving the flags? The people of Kashmir. Not one, but thousands. The story was the same across Kashmir. Anantnag, Pulwama. Everywhere there was the Tricolour in the hands of Kashmiri youth. The CRPF people told me they had never seen something like this,” Rahul said. He compared this to when Narendra Modi had hoisted the Tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. “I came back and heard the Prime Minister’s speech in Parliament. He said he had also unfurled the Tricolour at Lal Chowk. Maine socha Hindustan ke Pradhan Mantri ko baat samajh nahin aayi (I thought the PM of India didn't understand the difference). Narendra Modi went with 15-20 people of the BJP and unfurled the Tricolour at Lal Chowk. Bharat Jodo Yatra unfurled the Tricolour through the hands of lakhs of Kashmiri youths,” Rahul said. “We instilled the emotions behind the flag and the feeling of India among the youths of Kashmir. You snatched that emotion for the flag from them. That is the difference between us and you. We didn’t tell them to wave the Tricolour. They came on their own, thousands and lakhs. with the flag in their hands,” he said, adding: “Hindustan is an emotion, a way of thinking, it is respect, it is love. and the flag is a symbol of that feeling. Bharat Jodo Yatra has spread that emotion across the country.” Rahul also criticised a recent statement by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. “Some days ago a minister said in an interview that China’s economy is bigger than that of India. so how can we fight them?. When the English ruled us, was their economy smaller than our economy? So that means you will not fight who is stronger than you, you will only fight those who are weaker. It is called cowardice. It is Savarkar's ideology.” How could an Indian minister tell China this, Rahul asked. “Is this called nationalism? What kind of patriotism is this, that you fight those who are weaker than you, and bow down before those who are stronger?” While Mahatma Gandhi advocated satyagraha or not deviating from the path of truth and the Congress followed the same, the BJP philosophy was “sattagrahi (the desire for power)”, Rahul said. “They will do anything for power. They will join hands with anyone, bow before anyone for power. That is their truth.” On the Adani issue, he said “the entire government and the Modi ministry” came out to “protect the industrialist” when he attacked him in Parliament. “I only asked the Prime Minister what is his relationship with Adani. They say those attacking Adani are anti-nationals. So Adani has become the country’s biggest patriot and the BJP and RSS are protecting him.” The question was why, Rahul said. “The biggest question is about the shell companies which are funnelling thousands of crores of rupees into India. Whose money is it?” Watch: Shri @RahulGandhi's address at the Congress' 85th Plenary Session in Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh. #CongressSankalp2024 — Congress (@INCIndia) February 26, 2023 The PM could have simply said that there is no relationship between him and Adani, Rahul added. “But he didn’t, because there is a relationship. Adani and Modi are one. And the wealth of the entire country is going into the hands of one man. When I asked the Prime Minister about their relationship, my entire speech (in Parliament) was expunged. (Mallikarjun) Khargeji’s speech was expunged. You cannot ask about Adani in the Indian Parliament, but we will ask. We will keep asking, not once but a thousand times. till the truth comes out.” Accusing the Adani Group of causing harm to the country, Rahul said: “It is taking hold of the entire infrastructure of our country. The Independence struggle was against the East India company. That was also a company, that company too took away India’s wealth, infrastructure, ports. History is being repeated.”
