‘It’s a shame’: Rahul Gandhi says no concept of opposition, can’t raise China issue in Parliament

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, addressing the Indian diaspora at Hounslow in London, tore into the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. Speaking to an audience of around 1,500 people, Gandhi said that the BJP government does not allow the concept of opposition and that no one is allowed to raise questions about China and its border aggression in the Parliament. 

"The government doesn't allow the concept of opposition in the country. The same thing happens in Parliament, the fact that Chinese sitting inside our territory when we raise these questions we are not allowed to raise them in the house ... in fact, it's a shame," Rahul Gandhi said.

He said that India is a free country where the people take pride in their intelligence and respect each other, but that has been destroyed. “You can see the narrative in the media. So we decided to do Bharat Jodo Yatra," he said. Gandhi said that “it is not an India all of us are used to” anymore. 

Criticising the ruling BJP, the Congress leader said that at the heart of their ideology is cowardice. He was referring to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s remarks on China. "If you have noticed a statement by the foreign minister, he said China is much more powerful than us.China is stronger than us, so we can’t fight with them. So the British were stronger than us, so we shouldn’t have gone and fought with them? How would we ever get independence if we had followed the BJP and RSS’ principles?” he asked. 

Gandhi said that it is ingrained in the principle of BJP to not fight someone stronger than them. "Strange that an Indian political leader can give a talk in Cambridge, Harvard but not in an Indian university," he said.

The Congress leader also took a veiled jibe at Gautam Adani, whose companies’ stocks tanked after Hindenburg Research released a damning report on the conglomerate. He said a handful of people control pretty much every business. “He has become famous lately. You can see reports on his wealth. It's at the expense of the Indian people. One person is making all the money because of his political connections," Gandhi alleged. 

He also responded to the BJP government’s criticism that Gandhi maligned the country on foreign soil. “I have never defamed my country, I’m not interested in it, I will never do it. The BJP likes to twist what I say. The fact of the matter is the person who defames India when he goes abroad is the Prime Minister of India… saying there was a lost decade, and nothing happened in the last 10 years – so what about all those people who worked in India, who built India in those 10 years? Is he not insulting them? And, he’s doing it on foreign soil.” 

Also read: Rahul Gandhi says Indian democracy is under "brutal attack", minister hits back