‘I don’t hate PM Modi, but disagree with his point of view’: Rahul Gandhi in US

After launching a tirade of attacks at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, opened up on his thoughts on his rivals and said he doesn’t hate the Prime Minister but only disagrees with his point of view.

The Congress leader was interacting with students and faculty at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, on Monday (local time).

He also said that India essentially, is an idea of mixing and merging, while alleging that BJP and RSS have the “misunderstanding” of seeing India as a bunch of separate things.

“India at heart, is a union of languages, traditions, histories, religion, everything…When you have lunch here, you get first course, second course…we don’t get that, we get a thali, and everything placed in it…it’s a jumble and every food has the same value…so this idea of mixing and merging is in India,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“When Indian people go to their religious places, they merge with their deity. This is the nature of India. The misunderstanding that BJP and RSS have is they think that India is a whole bunch of separate things. So we don’t need to redefine anything, it’s already there,” he added.

Being asked about the idea of ‘love’ in reference to his ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ slogan, the Congress leader said he disagrees with Prime Minister Modi’s point of view but doesn’t hate him or consider him as his enemy.

“That’s more fun, you go in politics, you shout at that guy and that guy shouts back at you, then you abuse him, then he abuses you back. It’s boring stuff,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“You will be surprised, but I don’t actually hate Mr Modi…he has got a point of view, fine, I don’t agree with his point of view but I don’t hate him. In many moments, I empathise with him. I don’t think like he is my enemy. He has a different point of view, I have a different point of view. I have empathy and compassion for what he is doing,” he further added.

He further remarked that the Congress party and the Opposition faces two major challenges; first to contest elections and second of “undoing the damage” done by BJP-RSS.

“First, contesting the election, we are confident that we will fight and win the elections against BJP. In the next two or three months we will win these elections. Then, undoing the damage that BJP and RSS have done to our institutions is a much deeper problem and that is not going to get solved so easily and so simply. I still have 20+ cases against me…There is a huge set of structures that are being used to attack the opposition – investigative agencies, the legal system that continues, that has to stop. The real challenge is to make institutions neutral again,” Rahul Gandhi further stated.

Rahul Gandhi who is on a visit to the US, will be in Washington for two days. Earlier in the day, he addressed the Indian diaspora in Virginia.

Gandhi, who arrived in Dallas on Sunday, also interacted with students and teachers at the University of Texas. He also addressed the members of the Indian diaspora in Dallas.

The Congress leader called the Indian diaspora in the US a ‘vital bridge’ between two nations.