Washington DC: During his ongoing visit to the United States, Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed a “psychological collapse” after the latter apparently realised that the BJP would not win 300–400 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections.
He made the remark while speaking at Georgetown University – School of Foreign Services in Washington DC. “Halfway through the campaign, Modi didn’t think that he was near 300–400 seats. We knew when he said that he speaks directly to God. We knew that there we had blown him apart. We saw it as a psychological collapse,” he said.
The caste census is now an unstoppable idea.
The critical question of whether 90% of our population is meaningfully represented in India’s institutional structure – economy, government, education – demands an answer. At its core, this is an issue of fairness and justice.… pic.twitter.com/gxvmz0di65
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 10, 2024
The leader also emphasized that caste census was now an ‘unstoppable idea.’ “The critical question of whether 90% of our population is meaningfully represented in India’s institutional structure – economy, government, education – demands an answer. At its core, this is an issue of fairness and justice. Anything less than a comprehensive caste census, along with an economic and institutional survey is unacceptable,” he said.
Watch: Interaction with Students & Faculty | Georgetown University | Washington DC, USA https://t.co/pgTH4la6OJ
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 10, 2024
Moreover, the leader also alleged at an event in Virginia’s Herndon on Monday that three months before the elections, the Congress party’s bank accounts were “sealed”. The party apparently was left with no funds for advertising or campaigning. “We had no money to transport our leaders. I remember discussing with Mallikarjun Kharge and the treasurer, who had lost his confidence about what to do next. I said, ‘dekhi jayegi, dekhte hain kya hota hai’ (We’ll see, let’s see what happens) and that was the spirit with which we fought the election,” said Rahul Gandhi said while addressing the Indian diaspora event.
Gandhi claimed that he hadn’t seen such a situation before even as he had been fighting elections since 2004.
“You have to understand what this fight is about. It’s not just about politics; that’s superficial,” said the Congress leader, adding that the real issue was whether a person would still be allowed to wear ‘his turban as a Sikh.’
He alleged that the RSS was promoting the idea that some states were inferior to others. He also blamed the RSS of endorsing that certain languages and religions were inferior to others. However, he claimed that his party believed people from states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, or Madhya Pradesh all had their own history, tradition, and language. He stated that every person was important.
Rahul Gandhi will be in Washington for another day before heading back to Delhi.
