Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a stinging attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Manipur issue alleging that he is not a nationalist.
Addressing a gathering at a rousing reception in Wayanad’s Kalpetta, Rahul charged, “I said in Parliament a few days back that BJP has killed the idea of India in Manipur. What has happened in Manipur is murder of Bharat Mata. You have destroyed thousands of families, allowed rapes of women.”
“And as the PM of India, you are laughing. You spent only two minutes talking about the murder of Bharat Mata. How dare you do this? How can you destroy the idea of India? What have you been doing for the last four months? Why were you not there? Why did you not try to stop violence? You are not a nationalist. Anyone who murders the idea of India cannot be a nationalist.’’
Further attacking the PM over his speech on the no-confidence motion, the Congress leader said, “PM laughed, joked and smiled. His Cabinet members laughed and smiled. They had a lot of fun. The Prime Minister spoke for two hours and thirteen minutes about everything, about the Congress, me, about INDIA alliance, but he spoke for only two minutes about Manipur.”
Lashing out at Modi, Gandhi said the BJP government “murdered the idea of India” in Manipur.
The Congress leader said the idea of India represents the idea of peace among the people, adding if there is violence, murder, rape and hatred, then that is not India. “If in a state people kill each other, murder each other or rape each other, that is not India. India is love and affection between its people. India is bringing together people,’’ he said.
On his visit to Wayanad, after he was reinstated as an MP, Rahul said, “I have come back to my family. Suppose, if somebody tries to separate two brothers of a family… or a father and a daughter… their relationship and love become stronger. So the BJP and RSS do not understand what the family is. They don’t understand that the more they try to separate me from you, the stronger the relationship would be. The disqualification has made my relationship with Wayanad stronger.”
“You can disqualify me 50 or 100 times, but this relationship (with Wayanad) would only become stronger. BJP aims at destroying families. They want to divide the idea of India. In Manipur, they destroyed families… But we would bring love back to Manipur. You took two months to destroy Manipur, but it may take five years to bring love back to Manipur. We will do this. This is the fight between Congress and BJP,” Rahul added.
Gandhi also recalled his relations with Congress veteran and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who passed away last month.
“I am here today after four months… I have come back to Wayanad as your MP. I am happy to come back, but I am also sad that I don’t see Oommen Chandy ji here. He was a leader of Kerala and Kerala showed the love and respect they had for him in his funeral. We are thankful for what he did for Kerala…the honesty and transparency with which he worked, and the love and affection that always guided him,” he added.