Opposition parties that are against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should come together ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls and discussions were on about a possible framework to bring them together, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi said on Friday while calling on veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav.
Interacting with reporters, Mr. Gandhi drew a parallel between the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the border hostilities with China, and cautioned the government that Russia’s aggression of Ukraine over the Donbass region could serve as a ‘model’ for China that doesn’t recognise “Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh”. He claimed that the government was ignoring these developments but the Chinese have placed their troops in these regions
Talking about the economic situation and the price rise, he stated that media was being used to suppress the truth. But when it would hurt people, then the truth would come out as it had in Sri Lanka.
When asked to explain why the electoral mandate was not with the Opposition parties, Mr. Gandhi alleged that it was because 100 % total domination of the instruments of communication of this country; media is 100 percent controlled, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate suppressed conversations while other institutions blocked the conversations.
Opposition leaders’ initiative
His comments are significant as several Opposition leaders like Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and his Bengal counterpart and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee have been trying to work on a combined front of regional parties to take on the BJP.
These leaders have also reached out to leaders like Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav but have kept the Congress out of any such effort.
And the most cited argument for trying to work out such an arrangement is that senior leaders will find it difficult to work with a Congress led by Mr. Gandhi.
However, the Congress leader found support in Mr. Yadav, who recently merged his own political party with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). “Rahul Gandhi works for the party 24X7 and I think he should become the president of the party. The Congress should make him president only then something big can happen,” Mr. Yadav said.
When Mr Gandhi was asked to comment on the issue, he sidestepped the question by saying, “We will see about that”.
‘My guru’
Describing Mr. Yadav as his “guru”, Mr. Gandhi said he was very happy to see him ‘fighting fit’ now after prolonged illness.
Endorsing the RJD leader’s remarks that the country was in a “very bad state as hatred is being spread to divide the country,” Mr. Gandhi remarked that even the economy was suffering because of the ‘politics of hate’.
“In a country which does not have harmony, hatred will increase, inflation will rise, economy will not flourish and employment will not be generated. You cannot imagine that, what is going to come, you would not have seen such a thing in your life. The structure of employment in this country, the spine of this country, has been broken,” he added.
