Rahul Gandhi talks of Hindutva threat at Bahrain event

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday took his fight against the Narendra Modi-led BJP government to the Indian diaspora in Bahrain. In an 18-minute speech, he spoke of a nation that’s under threat by Hindutva forces, and appealed for help. “I have come here to ask for your help to fight these forces of anger and hatred. Brothers and sisters, India needs your help,” he said at an interaction with the Indian diaspora.

Mr Gandhi, who took over the reins of the Congress in December, said that an atmosphere of “fear” prevails in the country, and added, “It’s a tragedy that instead of talking about job creation, health care, providing world-class education, the focus is on what we are allowed to eat, who is allowed to protest and what we can and cannot say.”  

“Instead of uniting the communities and people of all religion to face the challenge, the government is busy converting the fear of jobless youths into hatred between communities,” he said at the interaction organised by the Global Organisation for Person of Indian Origin (GOPIO).

Claiming that he is getting ready to present a “nai, chamakti, behetar Congress Party (a shinning and improved Congress Party),” he said if he is able do so successfully, “defeating the BJP is not a badi baat (big thing)”. 

Talking about attacks on dalits across the country, Mr Gandhi said, “Dalits are being beaten to submission.” Without naming names, he added, “Judges investigating sensitive cases are dying under mysterious circumstances.”

Reports have alleged that Justice B.H. Loya, who was hearing the case of extra-judicial killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh against BJP president Amit Shah, died five months after taking charge.

In a tacit manner Mr Gandhi also referred to the assassination of activist and journalist Gauri Lankesh. “Activists and journalists are threatened and shot dead,” he said, and amidst lour cheer and applause, claimed, “India has been taken off its path of progress.”

During interaction with the Indian diaspora after his speech, Mr Gandhi didn’t merely acknowledged the party’s “mistakes” but also his “own mistakes.”

Launching into Hindi, Mr Gandhi said, “Main insaan hoon aur hum sab galitiyan karte hain (I’m a human being and err is human).”

This was Mr Gandhi’s first foreign visit since his elevation as party chief in December. Indians number at an estimated 400,000 people out of Bahr-ain’s population of 1.3 million, making them the largest expatriate group in the country.

While fans and well-wishers thronged Bahrain airport to greet the Congress president, cheers, loud applause and roars of “Rahul Gandhi zindabad” echoed in the Gulf Hotel where Mr Gandhi addressed the Indian diaspora, saying, “I have not come here to tell you anything. No. I have come here to ask for your help to fight these forces of anger and hatred.”

Stressing on his observation that “India is under threat,” Mr Gandhi referred to the freedom struggle saying, “We need you as our ancestors needed you in 1947to protect the idea of India.”

A miffed BJP fielded one of its Muslim faces from Bihar, spokesperson Shanawaz Huss-ain, to counter the Congress chief. Mr Hussain said that Mr Gandhi was “imitating Prime Minister Narendra Modi by trying to reach out to the Indian diaspora.”  

During his interaction with the Indian diaspora, Mr Gan-dhi claimed that the Congress has the “ability and power to defeat” BJP led NDA in 2019. When asked what would be his three main priorities if the Congress came to power, Mr Gandhi said, “Creating jobs, healthcare and providing world-class education”.

Mr Gandhi also got off the stage to welcome an 83-year-old air commodore who had come to hear his speech.

On the question of the BJP’s aggressive social media campaign against him, Mr Gandhi said that “no matter how much lies they (read BJP) spread, ultimately truth is revealed.”

“A diamond always remains a diamond,” he said.