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On Rahul Gandhi's rearview mirror jibe, Dhankhar retorts: ‘only to avoid someone who…’
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had hit out at BJP and RSS as he wrapped up his six-day US visit with a public speech to members of the diaspora.
In an apparent swipe at former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi over his remarks made in the United States, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday said one should look in the rear-view mirror to notice those out to taint, tarnish and destroy the country's institutions. He said one has to look in the rear-view mirror and then “you know those who are not well disposed towards the nation, those who are out to taint, tarnish and destroy our institutions -- we come to notice them.”
"You look in the rear mirror only to avoid someone who is determined to create an accident," the vice president said.
Dhankhar remarks came days after Rahul Gandhi, addressing the Indian diaspora in the US at an event, charged that the BJP and the RSS are "incapable" of looking at the future and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to drive the Indian car by only looking in the rear-view mirror which will lead to “one accident after another.”
“That is the phenomena of Narendra Modiji. He looks only in the rearview mirror and then doesn’t understand why the car is crashing,” Gandhi said at a public meeting in New York’s Javits Centre to a 3,000-strong crowd.
Addressing a batch of Indian Defence Estates Service officers at his official residence in the national capital, Dhankhar said that India will be the number one nation by 2047, alleging that “...some of us do not take pride...misguided souls confused about the potential and real-time accomplishments of this country.”
He, however, didn't elaborate on the parameters of the “number one nation”.
The vice president further stated some people in and outside the country were trying to "calibrate us".
"We cannot allow others to calibrate us. Their calibration is not objective…The rise of India is indigestible in some quarters because this country believes in peace and stability, harmony of the world," he said.
The vice president told the officers not to "carry baggage of history. It will impede your progress".
