NEW DELHI: Keeping up his attack on BJP on the issue of “polarisation” and “capture of institutions”, Congress member Rahul Gandhi said the governing BJP’s actions have nothing to do with Hinduism.
“I have read the Gita and I have read Upanidshads. I have read many Hindu books. There is nothing Hindu about what BJP does,” he said in a conversation with students and faculty at the Sciences PO University in Paris. To a question if attacks on religious minorities and weaker sections can be stopped and what would be his plan on the issue if the opposition comes to power, Rahul said, “If the Prime Minister tomorrow decides that there will be no chest-thumping, no violence, it will stop. It is the direction that the leadership of the country gives that shapes the people. The feeling right now is that you can do whatever you want, and nothing is going to happen to you. The moment the feeling is that there will be consequences, that behaviour will change instantly.”
In a strong warning, he said a future government will have to take deterrent action against those responsible for “capture of institutions”.
“A disease has entered the Indian institutional framework where the neutrality of these institutions has gone out of the window. I think we will have to make examples of people. We will have to make sure that some of the people who have done what they have done, pay a significant price for what they have done… so that anyone who thinks about doing it again knows that they will also pay the price for attacking the soul of india. It’s an attack on soul of India,” he said.
He said the BJP-RSS combine can polarise the society, but it is “a gross simplification” to say Modi is orchestrating it. “Modi is an instrument of the architecture. RSS can get rid of Modi in five minutes, if they want to. It is a structure that is doing it. That structure has become a threat to Indian democracy. We are committed to fighting that structure,” he said.
“I have read the Gita and I have read Upanidshads. I have read many Hindu books. There is nothing Hindu about what BJP does,” he said in a conversation with students and faculty at the Sciences PO University in Paris. To a question if attacks on religious minorities and weaker sections can be stopped and what would be his plan on the issue if the opposition comes to power, Rahul said, “If the Prime Minister tomorrow decides that there will be no chest-thumping, no violence, it will stop. It is the direction that the leadership of the country gives that shapes the people. The feeling right now is that you can do whatever you want, and nothing is going to happen to you. The moment the feeling is that there will be consequences, that behaviour will change instantly.”
In a strong warning, he said a future government will have to take deterrent action against those responsible for “capture of institutions”.
“A disease has entered the Indian institutional framework where the neutrality of these institutions has gone out of the window. I think we will have to make examples of people. We will have to make sure that some of the people who have done what they have done, pay a significant price for what they have done… so that anyone who thinks about doing it again knows that they will also pay the price for attacking the soul of india. It’s an attack on soul of India,” he said.
He said the BJP-RSS combine can polarise the society, but it is “a gross simplification” to say Modi is orchestrating it. “Modi is an instrument of the architecture. RSS can get rid of Modi in five minutes, if they want to. It is a structure that is doing it. That structure has become a threat to Indian democracy. We are committed to fighting that structure,” he said.
