New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused the Narendra Modi government of trying to clampdown on dissent and advised the PM to learn from his party.
Addressing the Jan Akrosh Rally in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, Gandhi said senior party leader Salman Khurshid had recently differed with the party but he would still “save him”. “We tolerate differences too. Salman Khurshid had a different opinion a few days ago and I respect that and I will save him. But when we fight the BJP and RSS, we all have to be together,” Gandhi said.
Khurshid, who was present in the audience at the rally, had recently differed with the party’s move on the impeachment notice against the Chief Justice of India, saying he was “saddened at the developments”. Later, however, he said that the notice’s rejection by the Vice-President must be challenged in court and that he was "not kept in loop for the entire process”.
Khurshid had also made a controversial remark at the Aligarh Muslim University, where he was asked why minorities should trust the Congress. "It is a political question. There is blood on our hands. I am also a part of the Congress so let me say it, we have blood on our hands. Is this why you are trying to tell us that if someone attacks you, we must not come forward to protect you?"
In an apparent reference to these instances, Gandhi said the Congress had tolerance for dissent. "In BJP, there can be only one ideology and that's Modi and Amit Shah's thought. No one matters there….”
"In our party, whether you are 80 or 18, you will be given a place, respect, love and trust. And if someone deprived you of that, I will personally launch an inquiry into that. There is no dearth of leadership roles in our party," said Gandhi.
At a time when the leadership and position of old guards is in question, the Congress president took to stage only after former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and ex-PM Manmohan Singh addressed the supporters.
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