Sitting down with God, PM Modi can explain to Him how the universe works: Rahul Gandhi in US

Rahul spoke at length about his Bharat Jodo Yatra and the alleged attacks on the idea of a diverse India and the constitutional values on the watch of the Modi-led BJP dispensation.

“The assault that is taking place in India…it is taking place on our way of life… Different languages, different religions and that is what is being attacked. So the tradition in India and again something that leaders like Guru Nanakji, Basavannaji, Gandhiji emphasised was not to be under the impression that you know everything… that the world is too big, too complicated for any one person to think that he understands everything and he knows everything,” the Congress leader said.

“So that is the disease…that we have a group of people in India who are absolutely convinced that they know everything. In fact, I think they think maybe they know even more than God. They could sit down with God and have a conversation and explain to him you know about what is going on and, of course, our Prime Minister is one such specimen,” he said.

“I think if you sat Modiji down next to God, Modi ji would start explaining to God how the universe works. And God would get confused that what have I created. So this is what is going on…We have a group of people who think they understand everything. They can speak to scientists and explain science to them. They can speak to historians and explain history to them. They can explain warfare to the Army, flying to the Air Force…whatever they want they can,” Rahul told the event. “And at the heart of it is mediocrity. That they actually don’t understand anything because in life you cannot understand anything if you are not ready to listen. That is the biggest lesson I learned from the Bharat Jodo Yatra that there is something to learn from everybody.”

India, Rahul said, has the ability to absorb any idea that comes. “India has never rejected any idea. Everybody who has come to India has been received with open arms and their ideas have been absorbed in India and that is the India that we like. India that respects the rest of the world, India that is humble, India that listens, India that is affectionate and that is the India that you represent,” he said.

Rahul then told the Indian diaspora: “If you believed in anger, hatred, arrogance, you would be sitting in a BJP meeting and I would be doing Mann ki baat.” He also said, “If you read our Constitution, the definition of India in the Constitution is a Union of States and within our Constitution is the idea that the languages, cultures, histories of each one of our states has to be protected under the Union… The BJP and the RSS are attacking that idea…and also the Constitution of India. That is the fact.”

Asked about a speculated “proposal” to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to over 800, he said, “I would have to look at exactly how they are thinking about doing it but I think one has to be very, very careful when one changes the representative structure of a country. So I would be quite interested in understanding exactly how they’ve come up with the number 800 and what are the criteria that they are using.”

Rahul said, “These things should not be done flippantly. India is a conversation, India is a negotiation between its languages, between its people, between its histories and cultures and that negotiation has to be fair…meaning all parts of India, all the states of India should feel that there is fairness in the process of negotiation. If I see exactly how they are coming up with 800 and what is the design then I would be able to answer whether I agree with the number 800 but I haven’t seen the way they are calculating it.”

Referring to the new Parliament House, Rahul said, “These are distractions. The real issues in India are unemployment, price rise, spread of anger and hatred, a crumbling education system, price of education, price of health care.. These are the real issues. The BJP can’t really discuss them so then they have to do the whole sceptre thing… lying down and doing all that. Aren’t you happy I’m not lying down.”

On a question about Muslims feeling insecure in India, Rahul said, “It is felt most strongly by the Muslim community because it is done most directly to them but in fact it is being done to all minorities. I can guarantee you that the same way you are feeling attacked…I can guarantee you my Sikh brothers are feeling the same thing, I can guarantee you my Christian brothers and sisters are feeling the same thing, I can guarantee you the Dalit community is feeling the same thing, tribal community are feeling the same thing. In fact, anybody who is poor in India today, when he looks at the extreme wealth that a limited number of people have in some way feels the same thing that you feel. That…what is going on? How is it that these five people have lakhs of crores and I have nothing to eat. So you feel it most because it is directed at you most aggressively but it is a phenomena that is taking place against everybody in India. You cannot cut hatred with hatred. It’s impossible. You can only cut hatred with love and affection.”

He also said “this happens periodically in India”. “What is happening, for example, to the Muslim community in India today happened to the Dalit community in the 80s. If you went to UP in the 80s, the Dalit community…what is happening with the Muslims…was happening with the Dalits. So periodically this type of stuff happens and we have to challenge it, we have to fight it. And we have to fight it with affection and not fight it with hatred. We will do it,” he said.

During his three-city tour of the US, Rahul will have interactions with the Indian diaspora, business leaders and media persons. He will have a range of such engagements in San Francisco, Washington DC and New York.

Rahul will also deliver a talk at the Stanford University in Silicon Valley on the topic “The New Global Equilibrium” on May 31. The talk at the Stanford Graduate School of Business is being organised by the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.