In a charged appeal, Congressman Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday used contrast to provoke thought when he addressed a crowd in his Raebareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh – asking an applauding crowd about the silence they serve when “the Constitution is being torn apart.”
Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological parent RSS, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said at the public event, “The Constitution carries your voice and blood” and “protecting it is your duty and responsibility.”
He was addressing the ‘Bahujan Swabhiman Sabha’ at Raebareli, in memory of the revolutionary Veera Pasi who belonged to the area.
Rahul Gandhi said: “You all clap…but when RSS members tear up this Constitution and throw it right in front of you, you remain silent. I want to tell you that this Constitution carries your voice and your blood. Protecting and preserving it is your duty and responsibility.”
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Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent public appeal to avoid traveling abroad, Rahul Gandhi said the Prime Minister “is telling you not to travel abroad. He is telling you not to buy gold. He is telling you to buy electric cars. In the coming times, farmers may not even have fertilizers available.”
“The economic storm is approaching,” Rahul Gandhi warned.
“You will see in just a few months, where inflation will go, where petrol prices will go, where diesel prices will go, where gas prices will go. The Prime Minister openly says: Don’t buy gold, don’t travel abroad, and then he himself travels abroad with planes worth thousands of crores of rupees. And you people stay silent,” Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi was referring to Prime Minister Modi’s ongoing five-nation tour, as part of which he has visited the UAE, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and is now on the final leg in Italy.
India’s Constitution has become a staple of the opposition leader’s Lok Sabha speeches and his pitches against his Congress rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which he says has destroyed the values of the document.
Rahul Gandhi said the Constitution is under attack and described it as a document representing the voices of Dr BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi which must be protected.
“While listening to the other speakers, I felt that we remember Veera Passi and Dr. Ambedkar, but the ideology they stood for is not being properly protected because, before our eyes, the Constitution is being attacked,” Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The Congress leader said that the Constitution is not an ordinary document, but carries the ideology of Ambedkar, Vira Passi and Mahatma Gandhi, besides the contributions of many reformers like Narayana Guru in Kerala and Basavanna in Karnataka.
Gandhi also referred to Buddha, Guru Nanak and Kabir, saying their voices were reflected in the Constitution.
