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Opposition agrees with govt stance on Russia-Ukraine crisis, says Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi said the opposition agrees with the government's stance on the Russia-Ukraine war due to India's ties with Russia.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the Opposition ‘agrees’ with the ruling government’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, considering the close bilateral ties that Delhi shares with Kremlin.
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“I think the Opposition, by and large, would agree with India’s current position on the conflict (between Russia and Ukraine). We have a relationship with Russia. I don’t think the opposition would have a different position than what the government is currently proposing,” Gandhi said while talking to reporters at the Brussels Press Club in Belgium.
Objecting to the way the Chinese government functioned, Gandhi suggested that to surpass or be on par with nations on a global scale, India must envision for production in a democratic environment and come up with an alternative way to lead as compared to China.
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“The Chinese have shown that it is possible to produce effectively in a cohesive environment. Where you don’t give people freedom, where you restrict their political freedom but you offer them prosperity. The challenge for us is to provide an alternative vision and produce under democratic conditions with political and economic freedom. There is a lot of cooperation that can happen between the US, Europe and India and that is where all our focus should go, how can we create an alternative to the Chinese production model which is rather cohesive. A competitive vision,” Gandhi said.
Opening up on the meeting with the European Parliamentary members, Gandhi said that the members were concerned when he had raised the issue of the attacks on the democratic institutions of India.
“The aim is to meet our diaspora here and to engage with them and to get a sense what they are dealing with. The second aim is to meet the government members and MPs and to get a sense how they are seeing India and also a sense on how our relationship should look like. There has been an increase in discrimination and violence and there is a full scale assault on the democratic assault on the country and of course minorities are under attack, so are Dalit communities and other lower caste communities,” he said.
Hitting out at Gandhi for conducting his visit at a time when the G20 Summit was being held in India, Bharatiya Janta Party national spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam said, “people like (Rahul) Gandhi want to bring a bad name to India”. He (Gandhi) is associating with people who are against the Modi government, Islam said.
“The whole country is thrilled for the G 20 Summit and everyone knows the kind of efforts that PM Modi has put in to put India on the global map but irresponsible leaders like Rahul Gandhi wants to project India in bad (light)... instead of experiencing this event, he has chosen to be in Brussels, meeting the critics of our nation, our leadership and our Prime Minister. This shows the mentality and mindset of Opposition,” Islam said.
In a veiled jibe to the EU parliament members who Gandhi said had expressed concerns after he shared that India’s democracy was under attack, the BJP spokesperson added, “Leaders from different part of the world must experience democracy by visiting India and not listening to people who have been thrown out of power by democratic processes. They (opposition) are upset and instead of working collectively with our government, they are giving a bad name to the country. These EU leaders are far away from reality and these are all concocted stories that are being served by forces like Rahul Gandhi.”
“There is an attempt to change the nature of our country. Our country is described as a union of states and I think the most critical aspect of our Union is the conversation within the members of our union. The BJP vision believes that power should be centralised and wealth should be concentrated and the conversation between the member of the Union and the people should be suppressed. This is a fight between Mahatma Gandhi’s vision and Nathuram Godse’s, Godse being person who assassinated out leader,” Gandhi added.
Taking a swipe at the Narendra Modi government for not inviting Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge (LoP) at the G-20 dinner hosted by the President of India Droupadi Murmu, while adding, “Opposition leaders not being invited to the G20 tells you that the current leadership doesn’t value the leaders of 60% of India’s population. People should think about the type of thinking that goes behind that thought!”
Reacting to the political row that emerged over the G 20 dinner invitation when the government used the name Bharat instead of India, Gandhi underlined that he was ‘perfectly happy’ with the names in the constitution while further claiming that the government did that out of ‘panic’ and that it was a ‘mere diversion tactic.’
“… I am perfectly happy with the names that is in our constitution but these in a sense to me are panic reactions and are distraction tactics. The INDIA coalition name is a fantastic idea and it represents who we are and that is the voice of India but it has disturbed the country enough that he wants to change the name of the country. That is absurd but that’s what it is. Every time we raise the issue of Mr. Adani, the PM comes out with some dramatic new diversion tactic,” Gandhi said
When asked about the condition in Manipur wherein reports of violence continue to persist till date, Gandhi added, “I visited Manipur and I think we are very much for democratic rights, harmony and peace between people. I walked 4000 kms for that purpose and there is a sense in India that the democratic and institutional structures of our country are under attack from the group of people who are running India. If anyone has a little understanding of India they know these things. The democratic fight is ours (opposition) and we will take care of it.”
Gandhi held closed-door meetings with some members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in Brussels on Thursday, marking the start of his three-nation European tour.
On Saturday, he is expected to hold a meeting with French parliamentarians and interact with students at the Sciences Po University before leaving for the Netherlands on Sunday.
The Indian Overseas Congress is organising the events for Gandhi, a senior party leader said. He is scheduled to return on September 12, a day after the conclusion of the G20 Summit.ead
