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I’m fighting for India, ‘don’t have visions’ of being PM: Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi claimed there is a “massive fightback” against what he called an “attack” on institutions under the Modi government since 2014.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday downplayed his prime ministerial ambitions, insisting that he was fighting an ideological battle to defend the nature of the Indian state.
“I don’t have these visions. I view myself as fighting an ideological battle and this change has come in me after 2014. I realised that there’s a risk to Indian state, to Indian way of doing things and I’m defending that,” Gandhi, who was interacting with members of the Indian Journalists Association in London, replied on being asked if he sees himself as the next PM.
He claimed there is a “massive fightback” against what he called an “attack” on institutions under the Modi government since 2014.
“I can tell you, the original idea of India is going to win, 100 per cent…We are defending an onslaught on the Indian Constitution and institutions. Me and the entire opposition see it as defending the nature of the Indian state (in the 2019 elections).”
“The next election is going to be pretty straightforward: BJP on one side and the entire Opposition on the other. The reason for that is that almost everybody in the Opposition and also members of the BJP alliance feel the encroachment that is taking place of Indian institutions, the systematic attack taking place on Indian institutions,” Gandhi said.
Even as he was applauded for what some in the audience called an “unscripted mann ki baat” over 70 minutes, Gandhi said, “There is this mood that we need to defend the institutions, we need to defend the idea of one man one vote, we need to defend the inclusive idea of India.”
The Congress chief reiterated the point he made at his interaction with students at the London School of Economics the previous evening that all non-BJP parties were first focused on removing the BJP from power, and conversations on the next prime minister could take place later.
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