Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Monday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the RSS-BJP "incite violence" and cannot understand the pain of victims, as he underlined that the country's secular ethos is facing an assault from Sangh Parivar.
Addressing a public meeting to mark the conclusion of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, he said only people like him, who lost his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi to violent attacks, and families of security forces could understand the impact of violence.
"Those who incite violence – like Modiji, Amit Shahji, the BJP and the RSS – will never understand this pain. The family of an Army man will understand, the family of the CRPF personnel killed in Pulwama will understand, Kashmiris will understand that pain, when one gets that call. They were scared that he could give a guarantee that they would not dare to embark on yatra in the valley. It is not that the Kashmiris would not allow them but because they are scared," he said.
Referring to phone calls he received about assassinations of his grandmother and father, Rahul said telephones are not just telephones for people like him and the families of security personnel and that inciters of violence will never understand the victims' pains. Rahul said he and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra understand the pain of children of security personnel who were killed in a terror strike in 2019.
He said he was asked what he intended to achieve through the yatra. "The aim of this yatra is to put an end to these phone calls (that bring bad news). There should be a time that no child receives such a call," he said.
He said the RSS and the BJP were attacking the foundation of the country and all people should stand together to resist such attempts. "You cannot win anything through hatred but love. Our attempt is to make India a shop of love in a market of hatred (nafrat ka bazar mein mohabbat ka dukaan)," he said.
(Published 30 January 2023, 10:35 IST)
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