New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi gave a clarion call for unity at a recent INDIA Bloc meeting, graciously accepting his and the Congress’s criticism from allies and urging them to use resistance as a strategy to defeat the BJP.
“The Congress Party’s role, as many of you have stated, is to unite all of you together with love and affection,” said Gandhi at the meeting held on June 8 in Delhi, in the backdrop of the recent Assembly election defeats suffered by two key constituents of the bloc - Trinamool Congress and DMK.
Criticising the alleged throttling of institutions and absence of a “fair field” to operate, Gandhi said, “The BJP controls the institutions of the state. The BJP controls the legal system. The BJP controls the bureaucracy. The BJP controls the intelligence agencies. The BJP even controls the Election Commission.”
He even made insinuations about alleged electoral wrongdoings in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “Please understand: We won the last election in 2024. We did not lose the 2024 election,” he said. “The problem is the capture of the instruments of the Indian state by the RSS. The problem is that you will not have a free and fair election to win,” said Gandhi. Describing the Congress as a party emerging out of resistance, the Rae Bareli MP said that the more the institutions of the “Indian state are throttled, the more aggressively the Congress Party will fight to defend the Constitution”.
Accusing the government of destroying democracy, Gandhi offered the Opposition parties a ray of hope amid the grave fallout of the Gulf developments.
Gandhi even tried to pull the Alliance partners out of the depression caused by repeated electoral defeats at the hands of the BJP. (IANS)