Undercurrent against BJP, but Oppn must work together, with a vision: Rahul Gandhi

Responding to a question, Rahul said the Congress would sweep the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, though he parried questions on electoral expectations from his Yatra. “In my mind, the Yatra is a conversation, and I don’t think it is fair to make any comments before that conversation is over. I can answer such questions the day the flag is hoisted in Srinagar and the conversation, at least this phase of the conversation, is over… I don’t want to demean it (the Yatra) by making it about something that it is not,” Rahul said.

About the “alternative vision” the Congress could provide, Rahul said the idea should be to transform India into a “production nation”, moving the mindset from GDP growth to GDP growth plus employment, exports and production; giving a new imagination to the children through the education system; ensuring social cohesion and harmony; and working towards economic equality, rather than a system where a handful of people benefit from India’s wealth.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Rahul took on questions regarding Opposition unity, the decision of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati and Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary to not join the Bharat Jodo Yatra despite his invitation in Uttar Pradesh, the disagreement with the government over his security detail, and the border standoff with China.

Rahul said he had no doubt that all Opposition leaders “are standing with us”. “We know it clearly. But in today’s India, there are compulsions — political and other. So I don’t want to comment on who is coming and who is not, and why. All I want to say is that the doors of the Bharat Jodo Yatra are open for all who want to unite India.”

He said there were similarities in the ideologies of Opposition parties. “There cannot be similarities between hate and violence and love. They are diametrically opposite. So there are many people, including Akhilesh and Mayawati, who want an India of love. They don’t want a hate-filled India. So there is a relationship with them… ideological relationship.”

On the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul said: “If the Opposition stands effectively with a vision… what I am hearing from the ground and what I am seeing from the ground, it will become very difficult for the BJP to win. But the Opposition has to coordinate properly and go to the people with a vision, an alternative vision to the BJP… not just go to the people. There is a huge undercurrent against the BJP, massive undercurrent.”

On Akhilesh’s charge that the BJP and Congress are the same, he said it was obvious to all that the two parties cannot be alike. “If the BJP and Congress were the same, then Narendra Modi would never talk about Congress-mukt Bharat… It is an old battle, a battle of ideologies.” But, Rahul added, “Akhilesh too has a space, and he should have the option to talk about it. He has his own perspective, ours is that our fight is with the BJP.”

The conflict was no longer the conflict of old, the Congress leader said. “It is no more a tactical, political fight, in the sense there is one group and the other group unites and defeats the BJP. That bus has left. (This is because) India’s infrastructure and institutional framework is now in the hands of one ideology, and they are completely dominating India’s political space… To defeat them, an ideology is needed.”

In this respect, Rahul said, the Congress stood apart. “I respect the Opposition, I like its leaders… but if you look at the Samajwadi Party, it doesn’t have a national ideology. It has a positioning in Uttar Pradesh and they perhaps won’t come because they have to defend it… The Samajwadi Party’s idea would not work in Kerala, Karnataka or Bihar. So there is a need for a central ideological framework and structure, which only the Congress can provide.”

At the same time, Rahul said, the role of Congress was “to ensure that the people in the Opposition feel comfortable and are respected. I mean mutual respect. They respect us and we respect them.”

Asked how he would like to bring the Opposition together, he said: “The idea of Bharat Jodo is a framework, it is a way of working, a way of thinking. Of course, I am not the Congress president and a lot of that work now the Congress president will probably do. But it is about bringing people together and making them comfortable. Respect basically.”

Detailing his concept of alternative vision, Rahul said that if India was to build a production nation, what was important was “giving our children imagination”. “Why is it that out of the lakhs and lakhs of people I have met, thousands and thousands of children, nobody has said I want to be a pilot, an astronaut, India’s best singer? Why? Because our system is telling them that these are all dead ends… But if you look at the countries that produce — and I give this example to kids — if you look at companies like Honda, Toyota, the people who founded these companies were mechanics. No mechanic in India can ever imagine that he could one day be the head of a Rs 1,000-2,000 crore company. That has to change. We have to give him the structures that allow him to do that, allow his imagination to do that.”