Nothing Hindu about what BJP does, sole aim is to get power: Rahul in Paris

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has hit out at the BJP during an interaction with students and academics in Paris, saying that the ruling party is out to get power at any cost and that “there is nothing Hindu” about their actions.

During the interaction on Saturday at the Sciences PO University in Paris, a leading social sciences institution in France, the 53-year-old Opposition leader covered a broad range of topics such as his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, the Opposition alliance’s fight to defend India’s democratic structures, changing global order and other key issues.

‘Fighting for soul of India’

Rahul stressed that the Opposition was committed to fighting for the “soul of India” and the country would “come out just fine” from the current “turbulence”.

“I’ve read the ‘Gita’, I’ve read a number of the Upanishads, I’ve read many Hindu books; there is nothing Hindu about what the BJP does, absolutely nothing,” said Gandhi, in response to a question about the rise of “Hindu nationalism” in the country during the interaction, a video of which was released on Sunday.

“I have not read anywhere, in no Hindu book, from no learned Hindu person have I ever heard that you should terrorise, harm people who are weaker than you. So, this idea, this word, Hindu nationalists, this is a wrong word. They’re not Hindu nationalists. They have nothing to do with Hinduism. They are out to get power at any cost, and they will do anything to get power… They want dominance of a few people and that is what they are about. There is nothing Hindu about them,” he said.

The former Congress president asserted that 60% of India voted for the Opposition parties while just 40% voted for the ruling party. “So this idea that the majority community is voting for the BJP, this is a wrong idea. The majority community actually vote more for us than they vote for them,” he asserted.

‘BJP trying to deny history’

Apparently hitting out at the BJP government amid Bharat vs India row, Rahul said people “attacking the soul of India” should be “made to pay a significant price”.

“People who are trying to change the name of the country are basically trying to deny history. We will have to make examples of people, we’ll have to make sure that the people who have done what they have done, pay a significant price. So that anyone trying to attack the soul of India understands that they will also have to pay a price for their actions,” he said.

He opined that though it is okay to call the country either India or Bharat, it is the intention behind the change that matters more. The Opposition alliance INDIA bloc’s name has triggered the central government into pressing ‘Bharat’ as the name of the country, he claimed.

“The Indian Constitution uses both names (India and Bharat). Both words are perfectly fine. But we have perhaps irritated the (central) government with our coalition name. Our coalition name is INDIA. And that’s why they decided to change the name of the country,” he said.

The session in Paris, the second European city on his tour after Brussels, was moderated by Professor Christophe Jaffrelot, Director of the Centre of International Studies, and chaired by Arancha Gonzalez, Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences PO.

(With agency inputs)