Rahul Gandhi woos Washington DC with Love, Humility and Respect 

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By Vijaylakshmi Nadar, Edited By Adam Rizvi, The India Observer, TIO: As the opposition back in India hounds prime minister Narendra Modi, with the caste census, pressing the Modi government to get the census pending since 2011 done, they are well aware that it will be resisted, as the census will expose the Modi government badly.

Explaining what the census is all about at an interaction with students at the Georgetown University, in Washington DC, Rahul Gandhi stated how the caste census is not about keeping the caste equations alive, as he has been accused of doing by the national media at the behest of the Modi government. Many consider caste census as an antidote to Hindutva.

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“Caste census is an institutional survey, a socio economic survey and a census”. This census will give us an idea of the representation of the 90% rest of the people comprising the adivasis, dalits, OBC’s, minority and also the poor from the majority community,” said Rahul Gandhi addressing a room full of students and faculty.

“We cannot ignore the participation of 90% of the population. That’s not a sustainable path. This is not a case of caste, Hindutva or religion. It is a question of fairness. As a politician I do not want to live in a country which denies opportunity to 90% of the population. A small minority like Ambani Adani, walk away with all the resources, running every single business in the country”, he said with conviction.

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“I have walked the length of the country more than anyone, and I see it in people’s eyes as they  struggle to imagine the future,” he said, while the prime minister continued to dole out goodies to his cronies.

Embodying the values of love and affection, which he spoke of in Dallas, he continued to speak of it in Washington DC as well. “We use anger, hatred in politics, not love. This is not rhetoric. I have been in politics since 2004. Never before had love been mentioned in politics, till I started mentioning it and now I get greeted by expressions of love. Love and affection are values that are accepted by everyone. You feel it for your family, your country. We will not accept violence, hatred and anger”, he stated as he was cheered by the students.

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In a discussion with students, which lasted more than an hour, Rahul mentioned how In India, there is no system of a first course, second course, or third course during a meal.

“In India you simply get a thali, with many food items all placed in it together, where each component has an equal value. This mixing and merging is a deep philosophical idea. In religious places we merge with the deity”.

He minced no words criticizing the BJP/RSS, asking, “What is the proposal of BJP/RSS ? And the answer from BJP/RSS is, let us not discuss the future. Let us talk about the past”.

“This is very dangerous and very boring’, ” he said to loud cheers.

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Tackling the mischievous question of how can the “INDIA alliance function, when they do not agree on many issues, Rahul Gandhi mentioned how they do “‘agree on many issues. We agree that the constitution should be protected”.

He also went on to correct the student’s statement that “It is not INDIA alliance. This is a BJP framing. It is an INDIA alliance. The whole idea of the alliance was to put across to the people that India and its constitution was being attacked and that messaging was very successful”.

To a question regarding gender discrimination in India, Rahul stated “As long as you are not violent, not disturbing others, the gender you follow is your business”.

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Expressing concerns on how elections are being managed in India by the Modi government, Rahul Gandhi stated that “we can fight and win elections. But that is very different from undoing the damage that BJP and RSS has done to our institutions, making it neutral again and that won’t be easy.”

Commenting on the falling economy and increasing joblessness in the country under Modi, Rahul Gandhi said, “A country can do two things. Organizing production and organizing consumption. China organizes production. The West and India organizes consumption. India is too large not to organize production. IT industry covers only a couple of percent of jobs. For blue collar jobs, no production is happening and that is hurting the economy. Without production, growth is not sustainable”.

He continued, “Large monopolists do not want to produce. They find it easier to just sell chinese goods. They do not want to go through the rigors of production or deal with labor problems.

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Every district in India has something to produce and yet it is being killed. India’s GST model is designed to encourage consumption, not production”

“The Modi government has given away Rs 16 lakh crores to just 25 people. What have they produced ? The entire system is rigged against those who want to produce”, he said.

To a question “Is there a better way to fix problems, than caste based politics” a question which baffles many Gen Z’s, especially those who have not faced caste discrimination and to whom the Modi government feeds false propaganda, Rahul Gandhi threw in some shocking figures.

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“There are 70 bureaucrats who run the government. Among them there is one tribal, three dalits, three OBC and a minority, making up less than 10% of their participation in governance and even less share in resources. There are no business leaders either in this 90%.”

“This is not the only solution, but we will scrap reservation when India is a fair place. Now it is not. Dramatically improving education, accessing education, designing new institutions, scaling older institutions like  IIT, IIM steps in the right direction”, he said. This statement was promptly mutilated by the BJP IT cell, to say that Rahul Gandhi was advocating scrapping of the reservation system, hoping to make a dent in Congress’s dalit/OBC vote bank.

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Later in the evening, addressing his supporters, he stated to loud cheers again, that “something has changed (in India). The fear that was so palpable in the air is no longer there. The fear has disappeared.”

“The pressure of agencies, the pressure of the media, of income tax on small and medium businesses. It took many years of planning, false propaganda and a lot of money to create that fear and it disappeared moments after results were announced. The idea of Modi, of the 56 inch chest, his direct connection with god, it’s all gone. He realizes it, India realizes it, partners in his government realize it, 3-4 of his senior ministers too realize it”.

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Reminding the gathered Indian diaspora, on how elections were managed in India, giving Modi a marginal victory, in an election, which promised to give him a resounding defeat, he said, “It was not a level playing field during elections. Three months before elections, Congress bank accounts were sealed. There was no money for even printing banners, releasing ads, or transporting leaders around. There were campaigns to be run and all I could say was “let’s see what happens”.

He stated how “the real fight is not about winning elections in politics in India today. That is superficial. The real fight is, if a sikh will be allowed to wear a turban in India without being attacked”, a statement which triggered yet another frenzy in India.

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Continuing his attacks on the BJP/RSS, he stated how “BJP does not understand that this country belongs to everyone, that it is a union of states, of languages, of tradition. BJP says it is not a union, it is all different and out of it, one is most important with its headquarters in Nagpur”, sparking mirth among the gathered crowds.

In Washington DC, Rahul Gandhi was also invited to the National Press Club, where all the former prime ministers from his family starting with Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi himself have faced a battery of tough questions and answered it too, unlike prime minister who refuses to take unprepared questions in India or abroad.

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“In 2014, we entered an aggressive phase of politics, with an attack on all its institutions.

Media was suppressed, Institutions controlled, government agencies attacked the opposition, elected governments were overthrown and a chief minister was still in jail. The only option left was to go directly to the people. And that changed me fundamentally. As a kid I always wanted to experience India on foot, but I never thought I would end up walking 4000 kms, across the length of the country”, he said in reference to the highly successful Bharat Jodo Yatra that Rahul Gandhi undertook in September 2022.

Commenting on the Indian government’s failed foreign policies, Rahul stated that “when you imagine yourself to be what you are not, that’s when strategies go wrong”.

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IOC has been focussing on increasing the presence of women leaders in their midst because Rahul believed that “women are better in leadership positions than men. They are more sensitive and tend to have a more long term perspective. Need more women in business and politics”

Taking on the contentious issue of Israeli attacks on Palestine, on which the Indian government’s stance has been ambivalent to say the least, Rahul stated “yes what happened on October 7 is wrong, but the scale of violence employed by Israel to kill Palestine civilians is very wrong and it must stop. It is harming Israel more than benefitting it.”

Reacting to false propaganda that the Indian government is effectively keeping China at bay, he stated “Chinese soldiers have captured 4000 sq kms of our territory”, continuing with a straight face and a sarcastic note that China is occupying land within Ladakh the size of Delhi. I think it’s a disaster. Media doesn’t like to write about it.”

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“There is no reason Chinese troops should be sitting on our territory.”

Following Rahul Gandhi’s attacks on Narendra Modi, a failed leader at best, the media back home brazenly announced that an attack on Modi is an attack on India, a campaign which they have successfully executed in the past, but not anymore.

“When we saw a leader in 21st century India saying how he is non biological and has a direct connection to god, we knew we had won. Then on the first day when he was sworn in, the way he held the constitution to his forehead, that was an interesting paradox. On one hand he was destroying the constitution and attacking the democratic structure, on the other hand, Indian people forced him to hold it to his head to pay respects to the constitution”, a sharp reminder that none is not above the constitution.

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