SEP 09, 2024 ; Congress MP and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has said that nobody in India was scared of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Prime Minister after the election results of Lok Sabha polls were announced earlier this year. While speaking at an Indian diaspora event organised in Dallas, Gandhi said that the RSS believes India is one idea and Congress believes that India is a multiplicity of ideas. He emphasised that every person should be given space irrespective of their caste, language, religion, tradition, and history. He said, “The RSS believes that India is one idea and we believe that India is a multiplicity of ideas and we believe by the way, very much like the United States, we believe that everybody should be allowed to participate. We believe that everybody should be allowed to dream. Everybody should be given space regardless of their caste, language, religion, tradition, history. This is the fight and the fight was crystallized in the election when millions of people in India clearly understood that the Prime Minister of India is attacking the Constitution of India because what I am saying to you, union of states, respect to languages, respect to religions, respect to traditions, respect to castes. This is all in the Constitution.” “Every single word that I said to you is in the Constitution. The foundation of modern India is the Constitution and what people understood in the election clearly and I saw it happening when I used to raise the constitution like this, people understood what I was saying. They were saying that the BJP is attacking our tradition, attacking our language, attacking our states, attacking our histories, and most importantly, what they understood was that anybody who is attacking the Constitution of India is also attacking our religious tradition,” he added. He also spoke on how he had described ‘Abhayamudra’ in his first address in parliament and BJP could not stand it. He noted that Abhayamudra is a symbol of fearlessness and added that it exists in every Indian religion. Recalling his first speech in parliament, he said, “That is why in my first speech in Parliament, you must have noticed when I described Abhayamudra this, the fact that this is a symbol of fearlessness and it is present in every single Indian religion. You go on the internet and you can see every single Indian religion. Guru Nanak holds his hand like this. Shiva holds his hand like this. Every single Indian religion, the hand is like this, it is a symbol of fearlessness and when I was saying this, the BJP could not stand it, they don’t understand it and we are going to make them understand.” He also talked about how the people in India were not scared of the BJP after the election results were announced and called it huge achievements of people of India who realized about democracy. Rahul Gandhi said, “The other thing that happened that was very beautiful, that in fact I was amazed that it happened so quickly was that fear of the BJP vanished, disappeared, gone and we saw that immediately. Within minutes of the election result, nobody in India was scared of the BJP or the Prime Minister of India. So, these are huge achievements not of Rahul Gandhi or the Congress party. We are peripheral. These are huge achievements of the people of India who realized democracy, of the people of India who realized that we are not going to accept an attack on our constitution. We are not going to accept an attack on our religion. We’re not going to accept an attack on our states.” Speaking about the Indian diaspora living in the US, he said that when they came to the country from India, they had come with values of constitution, respect, and humility. He said that Indians came to live in the US with love and affection. He said, “I’m speaking to people in Dallas and who are you? You are people who have come from India and the values that I have been describing values of the Constitution, values of respect, values of humility. You carry them inside your heart, you have them in your blood. So, when you when you came to this country, you did not come with arrogance, you came with humility, you did not come with hatred, you came with love and affection, and you did not come with disrespect, saying that you know we are coming to America, and who are these people? We’ll show them. No, you came with respect. So inside your heart is respect, is love, humility and you are our ambassadors in one way.” He stressed that Indian diaspora have a very important role of being a bridge between their old home and their new home and added that they should bring the idea of India to the US and the ideas of the US to India. Calling the Indian diaspora ‘a bridge’ between India and the US, Congress MP said, “You’re the bridge between these two unions – United States of America and the Union of States which is written in our Constitution, and so you have a very important role because the relationship between these two unions is going to determine the future of both these unions. The United States needs India and India needs the United States. It’s a fact we cannot get away from it, so you have a very important role of being the bridge between your old home and your new home, right. And in my view, you should travel freely between these two homes and you should bring the idea of India to the United States and the ideas of the United States to India.” Rahul Gandhi arrived in Dallas, Texas, on Sunday for his three-day US visit. The Congress MP was welcomed at the airport by Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, and members of the Indian diaspora.
