Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said it was a victory for the Congress Party that the BJP and the RSS had to take the name of Mahatma Gandhi years after failing to recognise him.
Addressing a special convention of the state Congress committee here on the eve of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Gehlot said the country and the world could not sustain without his principle and the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh should “apologise for their mistake”.
“The RSS, the BJP and their leaders had to take the name of Gandhi. This is a victory of our policies, programmes and beliefs,” he said, adding that the outfits should clear their stance on the issue.
“I would like to tell those people that mere speaking about him will not work. You should clarify what you have in your heart and mind.” Gehlot said.
He said if the BJP and the RSS had realised their mistake, then they should tell that they could not recognise Gandhi as they worked as “informers for the British”.
Do they have any moral authority to take the name of Mahatma Gandhi? No. They did not participate in freedom fight, rather helped Britishers’ and got freedom fighters framed. They should first accept their wrong doings and apologies the nation, then take Gandhi’s name, he said.
Lauding the Congress for “maintaining” the democracy in the country for 70 years, the CM said an “atmosphere of violence” had been created in the country since 2014.
The democracy was in danger and there was an atmosphere of fear in the entire country, he said
Gehlot said today’s generation is faced with the challenge to protect the democracy, which is in danger.
“It is the Congress which, in the last 70 years, strengthened the democracy and India is respected all over the world. Modi should boast that when he visit abroad, he is respected and it is all because of the country and democracy which was strengthened by the Congress in 70 years,” he said.
“After 70 years, Modi in America is remembering the ‘seven sins’ stated by Mahatma Gandhi. He even said there ‘Abki Bar Trump Sarkar’ – can a PM make such statements? I had said during the elections that a Bollywood actor acts, dances, and does romance in films, but there is no reality to it.
“Similar is Modi, there is no truth… the truth is with the Congress and Rahul Gandhi,” Gehlot said. He said Rahul Gandhi is a good person, who thinks of country and its people and believes in Gandhian ideology.
Talking about the challenges before the country and democracy, he said there are “forces which are doing politics in name of religion and community, and nationalism”.
“There are challenges ahead of us as they (BJP) have money power, doing politics of animosity, our party leaders are being sent to jail, economy is deteriorating , business and trade have stalled, unemployment and inflation are on the rise,” he said.
Gehlot said people in the country have a robust common sense and if they have given huge mandate to Modi, he should not take pride as “people can even bring him down in next elections”.-PTI news
