’Mahatma Gandhi on One Side, Godse on Other: Rahul Gandhi Concludes US Visit

Gandhi claimed that India is currently witnessing an ideological battle with the Congress, and the BJP and RSS.

Gandhi claimed that India is currently witnessing an ideological battle with the Congress on one end and the BJP and the RSS on the other, adding that the latter always “blame somebody else for the past".

(Photo:PTI/Altered by The Quint)

Speaking at New York's Javits Center on Sunday, 4 June, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged that the BJP and RSS only talk about the past and are "incapable of looking at the future."

Gandhi claimed that India is currently witnessing an ideological battle with the Congress on one end and the BJP and the RSS on the other, adding that the latter always “blame somebody else for the past".

“He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is trying to drive the car…the Indian car and he looks in the rear-view mirror. Then he does not understand why this car is crashing, not moving forward. And it’s the same idea with the BJP, with the RSS. All of them. You listen to the ministers, you listen to the Prime Minister. You will never find them talking about the future. They only talk about the past”.

Rahul Gandhi

"I think the simplest way to describe this fight is on one side you have Mahatma Gandhi and on the other side, you have Nathuram Godse,” he added.

Addressing a large gathering filled with members of the Indian diaspora, Gandhi spoke of the the recent Odisha train accident, which claimed 275 lives and left over 1,000 injured, and claimed that train mishaps during the Congress' tenure saw ministers taking responsibilities for their actions.

“I remember a train accident when the Congress was in power. The Congress did not get up and say ‘now it is the fault of the British that the train has crashed’. The Congress minister said ‘it’s my responsibility and I’m resigning’. So this is the problem we have back home, we make excuses and we are not accepting the reality we are faced with,” Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi

Gandhi also praised the Indian-American community for the way they have lived in the US and said, “All the giants that have emerged from India, you can see that there were certain qualities that all of them possessed.

"Firstly, they searched for, represented and fought for the truth. Secondly, all these people were humble, and there was no arrogance in them. That is how Indians have worked in the US, and that’s why Indians are successful here," the former Wayanad MP said.

Gandhi made the remarks on the last day of of his six-day-visit to the United States, which saw the Congress leader travel to San Francisco, Washington DC and New York and make addresses at places like Stanford University in California and the National Press Club in Washington.