Rahul Gandhi Describes Election as a Fight Between Idea of Karnataka and RSS

Bengaluru: On the last day of campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly elections, the Congress president Rahul Gandhi once again tried to play a sub-nationalism card by describing the polls as a fight between the idea of Karnataka and the RSS.

Addressing a press meet, Rahul said, “This election is a fight between the idea of Karnataka and RSS. The RSS is against your language, culture and even food. They want to destroy your culture. But the people of Karnataka won’t let that happen. Karnataka should have pride in its language and culture. There’s nothing wrong in it".

He also said that the RSS had insulted Basavanna, the founder of Lingayat community. Rahul Gandhi said that the RSS idea was to crush the spirit of the people who hold these things dear to their heart.

Unperturbed by BJP’s carpet bombing on the last day of campaigning, Rahul said that it showed BJP’s nervousness. He said, “They know that they are losing. Because of that so many leaders are campaigning. These things will have no impact on voters."

Ruling out the possibility of a hung Assembly, the Congress president said that his party would come to power on its own and there would be no fractured mandate. He said, “In Gujarat, some of my friends told me that Congress was going to get 20-30 seats. But we almost won that election. The PM Modi did everything to win his state election."

He attacked Modi for disrespecting the Kannadigas by belittling their achievements over the years purely for political gains. Deftly playing the local sentiments card, he said that Siddaramaiah government was there to protect the idea of Karnataka from the BJP and RSS.

The Congress president who has visited almost 30 temples and mutts across Karnataka in the last 100 days said that Modi had a problem with him visiting temples. “I don’t know why he has a problem. Me visiting temples troubles him," said Rahul.

He also said that Bengaluru was India’s pride and the PM and BJP were making baseless and cheap comments on such a great global city. “The PM has taken away thousands of skilled jobs from Bengaluru by awarding a contract to Rafale by ignoring Bengaluru’s pride HAL. And he is talking about job creations," said Rahul.

Responding to BJP calling Sonia Gandhi an Italian, he said, “My mother lived most part of her life in India. She is an Indian. She has sacrificed for India."

Rahul Gandhi has campaigned across the state for over 100 days and has the unique distinction of visiting all 30 districts in Karnataka. He has addressed almost 100 small and big rallies and participated in over 50 roadshows.