Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis lashes out at Rahul Gandhi during youth rally in Nagpur

Fadnavis used his youth interaction in Nagpur to target Rahul Gandhi. Congress said the event was organised in response to Gandhi’s growing appeal among Gen Z

After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s well-attended interaction with Gen Z in Pune, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis held a similar youth interaction called ‘Manthan for Yuva’ in Nagpur on Sunday, using the occasion to launch a sharp attack on Gandhi.

Fadnavis targets Rahul Gandhi over Pune youth interaction

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in a group photo with school students at the valedictory program of ‘Manthan4Yuva’, in Nagpur on Sunday (@CMOMaharashtra)

Addressing a large gathering of youngsters at Reshimbagh Ground, Fadnavis criticised Gandhi’s interaction with female students in Pune, accusing him of hypocrisy. He said Gandhi should first answer BJP leader Chitra Wagh’s question on his stand on the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Gandhi had on Saturday interacted with girl students at his ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ outreach in Pune, during which he called upon women to “smash patriarchy”. He also took a swipe at Narendra Modi, saying the PM said he was “shocked” to hear girls using abusive language at the Jantar Mantar protest but had not said a word about the boys. Gandhi attributed this to the “Manusmriti mindset” of the BJP leadership.

Fadnavis largely held forth on his own political journey as an example of how India’s Constitution and democratic system could take an “ordinary citizen” to the highest constitutional positions. “The speciality of this democracy is that Devendra Fadnavis became a CM, and a boy who sold tea at a railway station became the PM,” he said.

The CM said he had never imagined that his political organisation would ever come to power. “We believed that we were born to be in the opposition, and would protest and fight every day,” he said. “But the people showed faith, and one day I became Maharashtra’s CM.”

CM recalls Lal Chowk, Ram Janmabhoomi movement

Fadnavis said that at 18, he had participated in the hoisting of the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar. Speaking about the Ram Janambhoomi movement, he claimed he had spent “several months” in jail. He said the demolition of the Babri Masjid was a “proud moment” in his political journey.

Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal said that Rahul Gandhi’s growing popularity among the youth had “rattled” the BJP. “After his hugely successful programme, they decided to organise a similar event and used the entire government machinery for it, but Gen Z turned its back on them,” he said. “Even imitation requires some intelligence.”

Sapkal also accused Fadnavis of trying to portray Gandhi as being opposed to women’s empowerment, which was “completely false”.