Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asserted that he was in a dilemma over choosing Rae Bareli or Wayanad parliamentary constituency while giving up the other and said that his decision would keep both constituencies happy.
He made the remarks while addressing a public meeting in Kerala’s Malappuram.
Addressing the public, Rahul Gandhi, who is also former Congress chief said, “I would like to start by thanking every single person in Wayanad, who supported me. UDF voters, LDF voters, UDF workers, leaders and everybody, who took part in the elections and supported me and made my victory possible, I would like to thank them with all the humility.”
He said, “I can tell you that the government that has been formed in Delhi, is a crippled government. The opposition has dealt a fatal blow to the BJP and you will see that even Narendra Modi’s attitude will have to change because the people of India have sent him a clear message.”
“From our perspective, our role of opposition will continue. We proposed an alternative vision for the people of India, a pro-poor, compassionate vision and we will fight for that vision. We are committed to making India a fairer society, a more productive society,” he said.
While talking about which one of the seat to retain, Rahul Gandhi said, “Now, I have a dilemma in front of me. The question is, will I be Member of Parliament of Wayanad or will I be Member of Parliament of Raebareli?”
He said “unfortunately, I am not guided by God, I am a human being. Narendra Modi’s ‘parmatma’ (god) makes him take all decisions in favour of Ambani and Adani”.
“I do not have this luxury. In fact, for me, it is much simpler. My God is the poor people of India, my God are the people of Wayanad.
So, for me, it is easy. I just talk to the people, and my God tells me what to do,” the Congress leader said.
“Anyway, back to the question of Wayanad or Raebareli, what I will commit to you, is that both Wayanad and Raebareli will be happy with my decision,” he added.
During his speech, he also said that the fight in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls was for protecting the Constitution of India and in that fight, hatred has been defeated by love and affection, arrogance by humility.
Rahul Gandhi also said that PM Modi will now have to change his attitude because the people of India have sent him a clear message.
The Congress leader called the government formed at the Centre as a “crippled one” and said that the opposition has dealt a fatal blow to the BJP.
“And you will see that even Narendra Modi’s attitude will have to change because the people of India have sent him a clear message,” he noted.
He also said: “The fight in this election was about the Constitution and it was, on one side millions of Indian people saying that we want our tradition, we believe in our language, we believe in our culture, we believe in our history and we will define our future.”
Taking a jibe at the BJP, he said, “On the other side, the Prime Minister and Amit Shah, who said- No! If we want the people of Kerala to speak Hindi then the people of Kerala will speak Hindi, if we want the Tamils, not to speak Tamil then the people of Tamil Naidu will not speak Tamil, if we want Onam to be celebrated then only Onam will be celebrated and we will decide whether Kathakali is danced in Kerala or some other dance and the beautiful thing is that they had a fundamental misunderstanding.”
He also slammed the government over.the misuse of Central agencies and said that they (BJP) thought that just because they have political power, just because they have ED, they have CBI, they have the Income Tax Department, they can dictate to the people of India what is going to happen. “And the people of Kerala, the people of Uttar Pradesh, they showed the Prime Minister, people of all other states showed the Prime Minister that you cannot dictate to the people of India, what we want and the people of India also told them that the Constitution is our voice, do not touch the Constitution,” he said.
He also emphasised that 21st century is a visual century. “Images have become much more important. Before the election, you saw, BJP leaders saying- we will tear up the Constitution, we will throw the Constitution away, we will change the Constitution- Arrogance of power! After the election, you saw the Prime Minister doing this to the Constitution (showing the people his putting the Constitution on his forehead).
He further claimed that in fact, the truth is the Prime Minister barely escaped in Varanasi and he would have been defeated himself in Varanasi.
“The BJP was defeated in Ayodhya. So, even the people of Ayodhya have sent a message to the BJP that we do not appreciate hatred and violence and the single biggest message that the people of India have given is that we have multiple traditions, we are many states, we have many histories and every single one of these histories, every single one of these traditions, every single one of these religions is going to be respected,” the Congress leader said.
He further said that “from our perspective, our role of opposition will continue”.
“We proposed an alternative vision for the people of India, a pro-poor, compassionate vision and we will fight for that vision. We are committed to making India a fairer society, a more productive society,” he said, adding that you saw in the election first, the Prime Minister said- ‘400 Paar’.
“After that ‘400 paar’ disappeared and ‘300 paar’ came, after that ‘300 paar’ disappeared and then he gave a speech where he said- I am not biological. He said- after my mother passed away, I realized that I am not a biological person. I don’t take any decisions; I have been put on this earth by Parmatma and he takes all the decisions,” he said taking a pot shot at Modi.
This was Rahul Gandhi’s first visit to Wayanad after winning from the seat for the second time.