Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 9: The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday refused to spell-out if he would take over the mantle of the party once again but gave enough hints to indicate that he had no intention to contest the party presidential elections next month and that there was “no confusion” in his mind on the issue.
He said he has clearly decided what he is going to do and asserted “there is no confusion in my mind at all.” “The [Congress] president election will take place, and your question will be answered. Whether I will become president or not will become very clear once the election takes place. So, wait till that time. If I don’t contest, you can ask me and I’ll reply why I did not.
“You said I have not decided. I have very clearly decided in my mind what I am going to do. There is no confusion in my mind at all,” he told reporters on the second day of the mega “Bharat Jodo Yatra” which started from Kanyakumari. Senior leaders in the party said his remarks were a clear indication that he would not contest.
Nominations for the Congress president’s election will begin on September 24 and will end on September 30, and in case of a contest the election will be held on October 17 and the counting on October 19.
Rahul Gandhi also disagreed that there was any “contradiction” between his “leading” the Yatra and his reported refusal to take over the party presidentship. He emphasised that he was not “leading” the Yatra but was only “participating” in it as a true Congressman who believed in the ideology of the party which had decided to undertake the Yatra.
“Where is the contradiction? To put it in perspective, the Congress party has decided to do a padyatra across the country. I am a member of the Congress party and as a member of the Congress party and a person who agrees with the ideology of the Congress party, I am participating in this Yatra. I don’t see any contradiction in my participation in this Yatra,” he said.
Another reason to join the Yatra was that he felt it would be a very good experience for him personally. “It is a powerful thing to do not just from the political point of view, but also from the personal point of view. It is a different way of thinking about and looking at things. Hopefully, there will be some understanding about myself and this beautiful country from this Yatra. I think four months later, I will be little wiser,” he added.
On whether the Yatra will strengthen the Congress and lead to its revival, Gandhi said the goal of the march is to connect with the people, counter the “damage that the RSS-BJP has done to the country and the hatred they have spread.” “Now, if the Congress party benefits from the yatra, that is good,” he added.
The former Congress president also responded to the BJP over its ‘Parivar Bachao’ remark, saying the yatra is being undertaken to undo the damage done by the BJP-RSS of spreading hatred in the country.
He said everybody has an opinion, the BJP has one and so does the RSS. “They are free to have. For us in the Congress, this is a journey and an attempt at understanding what is going on in India and an attempt at undoing the damages that have been done by BJP and RSS,” he said.
Asked if the battle of ideologies he often talks about has entered a decisive phase, Gandhi said this battle has been going on for a couple of thousand years now between two different visions. “There have always been two different visions of India. One vision, which is rigid, controlling and another vision, which is plural, open minded and I think, this battle will continue. We are playing our role in this fight,” he said.
On why he was not dealing with the internal differences in the party, he said: “Why don’t I convince them (those who are leaving the party)? Obviously the BJP has better means of putting pressure on them than I do… More seriously, the BJP has taken control of all the institutions of this country. They have inserted their people in most of the institutions. They pressure through these institutions. You know the role of the CBI, ED and Income Tax department. You know how they deal with these things. So we are not fighting a political party anymore. We used to fight a political party, but now the fight is not between one political party and another political party. Now the fight is between the structure of the Indian State and the Opposition and everybody understands this,” he said.
“This is not an easy fight. This is a difficult fight. Media is not with the opposition. Not because you don’t want to be, but, because you are under pressure, your owners have particular relationships, so this is not an easy fight and a lot of people don’t want to fight, lot of people feel, why get caught up. It is easier, to let go, make peace with the BJP, fold hands in front of them, and your life will be easier,” he said.
But he asserted this was neither his training nor his character. “My character is to fight for a certain idea of India, certain notion of this country and there are many-many people in the Congress Party and in the opposition, who are convinced of this fact,” he said.
He also said India is not living in harmony and the country is divided along lines of religion and states. “People do not have employment; people do not have work, that is very clear. Two or 3 big businesses are controlling everything; the third richest men is now in India, who is probably going to become the richest very soon, close confidante of the leader of the country, that is not harmonious. You have massive price rise, that is not harmonious. So, for me, India is a conversation between its people and that conversation has broken down,” Gandhi said.
Asked about the names of cities, roads railway stations being changed, he said there is “total bankruptcy” in vision for what is to be done in future, so to divert attention, names are changed. His remark came a day after Prime Minister inaugurated the newly-christened Kartavya Path, the stretch of road from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate earlier known as Rajpath.
Gandhi said it is not just the government but deeper than that – India is lacking now a vision for itself. He also said that the Congress is not against corporate India but against powerful monopolies and unfairness.
He also said the Bharat Jodo Yatra would help in forging Opposition unity even though that was a separate exercise. It is the responsibility of the entire Opposition to come together and discussions were in progress, he added.
