Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said “the BJP should not be under any illusions because we know how to fight them; we are going to fight them and defeat them...Because they [BJP] are fighting history; they are fighting tradition and they [history and tradition] cannot be defeated,”
Releasing Ungalil Oruvan (One among you), the autobiography of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in Chennai in the presence of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Mr. Gandhi charged that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to Tamil Nadu he tried to impose some other idea on the people of Tamil Nadu.
“When he does not understand Tamil Nadu is not just two letters [words]; when he does not understand Tamil Nadu is 3,000 years old, Tamil Nadu is the land; Tamil Nadu is the people, he insults the State and our country,” Mr. Gandhi said.
The Congress leader wondered what type of respect the Prime Minister would hold for the people of Tamil Nadu when he was not listening to the people of Tamil Nadu, who repeatedly asked and wanted to talk about (abolition of) the National Eligibility–cum– Entrance Test (NEET).
“What respect do you hold when the voice of Tamil Nadu says that GST is unfair and harms productive States and you do not respond. Who are you disrespecting? How can you take away the voice of people of Tamil Nadu and then you say ‘I respect them’,” Mr. Gandhi asked.
Recalling his speech in Parliament, the Congress leader said “they [BJP] do not understand the history of Tamil Nadu and they do not understand the history of the nation”. He added, “In 3,000 years, nobody has been able to impose anything on Tamil people. And in 3,000 years from today, nobody will be able to impose anything on Tamil people.”
Reiterating that the voice of people was represented in our [democratic] institutions, he alleged it was under systematic attack. “The judiciary, the Election Commission and media are attacked one by one,” he charged.
Mr. Gandhi said that for the first time since Independence, a State [Jammu and Kashmir] of the Indian union had its power taken away from it.
“It never happened before. That the rights of the people have been snatched from them. Today the people of Jammu and Kashmir do not rule themselves. Bureaucrats from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat rule them and that is the extreme they have done to Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Turns emotional
Seeking to answer the question why he mentioned Tamil Nadu so many times in his speech in Parliament even though he was not a Tamil, he turned emotional and said it was because “my blood is mixed with your soil”.
“It was a very sad experience for me losing my father [on Tamil soil]. It was a very difficult experience, but also an experience to learn from. So I realised I have the right to call myself Tamil. What does it mean to be a Tamil? The first thing it means when I come to this State is that I come with humility. I come bowing my head to your history and tradition. I come with a desire to understand your perspective,” Mr. Gandhi added.
Mr. Abdullah said the nation stood at a crucial juncture and the very idea of what the nation stood for faced an onslaught.
“Today we are told that we no longer have the right to choose. The freedom to choose whether to follow a religion or not and if follow a religion how much to follow. Even that was today dictated to us today,” the NC leader said.
According to him, when the choice was taken away, the idea of India would be taken away. “And that is the idea of India we must protect. India is too large a country for some homogeneous idea of India to prevail for everybody,” Mr. Abdullah said.
Warning that what started in Jammu and Kashmir might not end there, he called for continuing the struggle.
“It is not a fight against a political party, but against the entire machinery. The fight and struggle we are waging is not an easy one. Perhaps not even a fair one. But definitely just one,” he said.
Mr. Abdullah said “the idea of India, we hold dear to our hearts, is the India we will give to our children in the inheritance we pass on to them.”
The Jammu and Kashmir leader said, “As long as we have leaders like [Mr.] Stalin and his colleagues, Tamil Nadu will be a bastion of strong support and the message of the idea India in its diversity.”
