‘Mother said words I used were wrong’

Defending his remarks against the ordinance on convicted legislators, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said, “I have the right to voice my opinion. A large part of the Congress Party wanted it.” At the same time he made it clear that his words may have been strong but the sentiment was not wrong. “Why am I being penalised for raising my voice on something that was wrong Was I wrong ” Mr Gandhi asked, apparently hinting at the main Opposition BJP, besides some UPA allies, including the NCP and the National Conference which had reportedly criticised the events that led to the reversal of the Cabinet’s decision. Mr Gandhi was talking to reporters in Ahmedabad. “My point is detrimental to our allies,” he said when suggested that RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, jailed in a fodder scam, will be the most unhappy person after what the Congress vice-president did to thwart the ordinance. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s SP, which is supporting the UPA government from outside, had openly criticised rescinding of the ordinance. “I spoke my mind on the issue, it is amazing to see reactions to it. I am flabbergasted,” he said. The young Gandhi conceded the words he had chosen to trash the ordinance might have been wrong but not his sentiment. “My mother (Congress president Sonia Gandhi) told me the words I used were wrong. In hindsight, may be the words I used were strong but the sentiment was not wrong. I am young...” Mr Gandhi said. Mr Gandhi, who is on a two-day tour of Gujarat as part of preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, admitted factionalism in the Congress was responsible for repeated defeats of the party in the state. “The problem is not external, it is internal. Certainly there is factionalism in Congress,” he said to a question why his party was repeatedly losing to the BJP in the state. Maintaining that “most democratic institutions of the country are not democratic in nature”, he said adding that the future of the nation was being decided by a handful of people. “The population of India is 1.2 billion. However, there is centralisation of power here. Only about 1,000 people decide who will go to the Vidhan Sabhas and Lok Sabha who in turn decide the future of this country,” Mr Gandhi said.