Wayanad or Rae Bareli? Rahul Gandhi's dual-win dilemma
Tough choice, but the Congress leader promises to make both constituencies happy with his decision, even though he is only human
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who won from Wayanad and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general elections, said on Wednesday, 12 June, that he was in a dilemma as to which constituency he should relinquish.
Gandhi added that whatever decision he takes, he pledges that both constituencies would be happy with it.
He thanked the people of Wayanad for electing him to represent them for a second term in the Lok Sabha and said, "I look forward to seeing you soon."
I have a dilemma before me, whether I should be the MP of Wayanad or of Rae Bareli. What I will commit to you is that both Wayanad and Rae Bareli will be happy with my decision
The public meeting in Wayanad is Gandhi's first appearance in the state since winning the seat by a huge margin for the second consecutive time.
Speaking at the event, Gandhi took a dig at Narendra Modi, saying that he does not receive any directions from God on what has to be done like the prime minister does.
(Modi) has a strange God. He makes (Modi) take all the decisions in favour of Adani and Ambani. Unfortunately, unlike him, I am not guided by God. I am a human being.
He alleged that Modi's God directs the prime minister to hand over the country's major airports and power plants to Adani and then take out an 'Agniveer' scheme to help the industrialist out in the defence sector as well, adding:
I, unfortunately, do not have this luxury as I am a human being and God does not order me. For me, it is much simpler. My gods are the poor people of India. My gods are the people of Wayanad.
So, for me, it is easy. I just talk to the people, and they tell me what I should do.
During his speech, Gandhi also said that the fight in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls was to protect the Constitution of India and that in that fight, hatred had been defeated by love and affection, arrogance by humility.
Pointing out that on the one hand, there are millions of Indians who want to preserve their different traditions, languages, cultures and histories, Gandhi said that they will define their future; on the other side, he said, are the prime minister and union home minister Amit Shah, who said they wuld decide what languages should be spoken and what traditions should be followed.
The Lok Sabha MP said that there was a "fundamental misunderstanding" on the part of Modi and Shah.
[PM Modi and Amit Shah] thought that just because they have political power, they have ED, CBI and the income tax department, they can dictate to people what is going to happen.
The people of Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and all other states showed the PM that you cannot dictate to us what we want. The people of India told them that the Constitution is our voice. Do not touch the Constitution.
He further said that the truth was that the prime minister barely escaped defeat in Varanasi and the BJP was defeated in Ayodhya.
So, even the people of Ayodhya sent a message to the BJP that we do not appreciate hatred and violence.
The single biggest message that the people of India gave was that we have multiple traditions, states, religions and histories and every single one of them was going to be respected.
Therefore, Prime Minister Modi will now have to change his attitude because the people of India have sent him a clear message, the Congress leader said.
Gandhi termed the government formed at the Centre a "crippled one" and said the opposition had dealt a fatal blow to the BJP.
"From our perspective, our role of opposition will continue. We proposed an alternative vision for people of India — a pro-poor, compassionate vision — and we will fight for that, he said.
We are committed to making India a fairer society, a more productive society.
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