Only Congress can defeat RSS and the BJP: Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat

Rahul Gandhi described Gujarat, where the Congress was once a powerful political force, as the most important state for the opposition party

Published on: Apr 16, 2025, 15:21:42 IST

By Maulik Pathak

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Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday expressed confidence in his party saying that they can defeat the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat.

Gandhi was addressing booth-level Congress workers at Modasa town in Arvalli district. (PTI photo)

“If we want to defeat RSS-BJP in the country, then the path is through Gujarat,” the leader of the opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha said while addressing party workers at the District Workers Convention in Modasa, Gujarat, where he outlined plans to revitalize the Congress.

Gandhi acknowledged the fact that his party workers seem demoralised in Gujarat but assured that it will change soon.

“It looks tough, but I have come to assure you that it’s not difficult, it’s very easy for you, and you will see that we will accomplish the task in Gujarat,” he said.

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“Gujarat is the most important state for the Congress party. We seem demoralised in Gujarat, but we will defeat them (BJP) in the state. I am here to tell you that it is not difficult. We will definitely finish this task. Only the Congress party can defeat the RSS and the BJP,” he said.

Gandhi called Gujarat an important state for his party.

“We want to give the message that Gujarat is the most important state for us. Our fight is for ideology, and we will fight and win from Gujarat,” said Gandhi.

Gandhi accused the ruling BJP of concentrating the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few billionaires. “Unemployment is rising, while two or three billionaires are being handed the country’s resources,” he claimed, criticizing the government’s economic policies.

“There are only two parties that fight on ideology: one is the RSS and the BJP, and the second is the Congress party. The whole country knows that only Congress can defeat BJP-RSS”, he added.

He also invoked the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel, both of whose political journey started in Gujarat.

“Our party started in Gujarat itself. You gave us our greatest leader, Mahatma Gandhi, and also Sardar Patel. But we have been demoralised in Gujarat for a long time... but I have come here to assure you that nothing is difficult,” he said.

In his address after launching a pilot project of strengthening district units, he outlined structural changes aimed at revitalizing the Congress organisation in Gujarat, describing it as a “pilot project” for the party.

He also called for decentralizing power to district-level leadership.

“Districts-level work should be run from districts and not Ahmedabad – districts should be strengthened, district presidents should be given more powers,” Gandhi said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maulik Pathak
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.Read More

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