Tuticorin, Feb 27 (UNI) Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi
today launched a scathing attack on RSS and said it had destroyed
the institutional balance in the country.
Interacting with Advocates during his second leg of electioneering
in this southern district, he said there has been a systematic attack
on all institutions during the last six years.
'In India there is Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, Panchayats, Judiciary,
Free Press. These institutions together hold the nation in place.
Over the last 6 years, we’ve seen a systematic attack on all these
institutions", he said.
Claiming that there was a full scale assault on secularism in
this country and that RSS and BJP were leading that assault,
Rahul said 'secularism is the foundation of our culture and
history and hence it is an attack on our culture and history.
It is very important that it is stopped in its tracks".
'A nation is a balance between its institutions. If that balance
is disturbed, a nation is disturbed', Rahul said, adding, the
spirit of this meeting was to understand what was happening
and to defend the Indian nation and India’s institutions from
this brutal assault that has been taking place.
'If all the states do not have equal say then the power balance
between those states is destroyed and that is a serious problem
for any country. This is what we are facing', he asaid.
Accusing the BJP of stealing the people's mandate with money, Rahul
said 'I knew the amount of money that was thrown at MLAs in MP,
Rajasthan. We are talking massive amounts of money. When you
have a party that is fighting elections with thousands and thousands
of crores, but other parties are not allowed to raise finance'.
Financiers who would like to support opposition parties come
and say that they understand what you're standing for, we
support what you're standing for but if we give you one rupee,
our business will be destroyed.
Rahul said 'I have had that conversation where they say we
want to support you, but if we support you, our business will
be destroyed and so we cannot support you'.
'Our Madhya Pradesh Govt goes, it is essentially bought. But
nobody in the media says anything. Our Govt in Arunachal is
bought, nobody says anything', he said.
'We should absolutely have laws that don’t allow MLAs to move.
But first we need a functioning Parliament, we need a judiciary
that is not penetrated by the RSS and BJP, a press that raises
this issue', he said.
'On one side, you have capture of all institutions, monopoly on
finance and media. On the other side you have political parties
that are not allowed to compete. When they form governments
against all odds, their mandates are taken away from them',
he added.
Stating anti-defection law could be made stronger to disqualify
the defecting members, Rahul said in order to do that you need
Parliament and you’re not going to get Parliament right now.
'Even to enforce that idea, we need institutional structure,
which we don’t have', the senior Congress leader said.
'Today, if the Congress party wants to win an election, the
only way to win is if we have 2/3rd majority. If we win by
10-15 seats, it’s not a win, it’s a loss, because BJP comes,
buys the people and has its own government. This is what
we are facing now', Rahul said.
Rahul said people who question, challenge the RSS, BJP
are threatened, pushed around. 'I am lucky because there
is nothing they have on me because I had the good sense
in my entire political career to be an honest person".
'That's why they can't touch me. That is why I can speak
to you because no ED, CBI is going to affect me. That is
also why the BJP attacks me 24x7, because they know this
man is not corrupt and we have no leverage on this man',
Rahul said.
'Now India is entering a phase quite like when we were fighting
the British that we cannot rely on the institutions to protect
our democracy anymore, we can only rely on the people of the
country', he said.
Stating that there were multiple other balances that have also
been destroyed, Rahul said India is a union of states, all states
come together to form the nation. 'When you destroy institutional
balance of the country, you also destroy the negotiation between
the states'.
'There are many different manifestations of this--misuse of
sedition law, killing and threatening of people. These are all
symptoms. The problem is--concentration of capital has combined
with organisation of RSS and destroyed the institutional balance
in the country', Rahul said.
Rahul said democracy was dead in India because the RSS had
destroyed the institutional balance.
'Democracy does not die with a bang, it dies slowly. I am sad
to tell you that democracy is dead in India. It is dead because
one organisation---the RSS has combined with huge finances to
penetrate and disturb and destroy our institutional balance", he
said.
Noting that the stirrings are there but as a political person,
in his entire career, before 2014 he had never imagined a
situation where he will have no institutional support whatsoever,
Rahul said 'There's only one way this will get resolved--by mass
action."
Rahul said, as a political leader, in a democracy, he require
institutional support, a media that was objective, a judiciary
that was aggressive, the ability to speak in Parliament.
'All those have been taken away from us. Where is this heading',
he asked.
'When ordinary citizens realise this country is not being run
by his mandate but by force, undemocratically, that’s where this
is going, you can see beginnings of it on borders of Delhi',
he said, in an apparent reference to the farmers protest.
Claiming that there was a full scale assault on secularism in
this country and that RSS and BJP were leading that assault,
Rahul said 'secularism is the foundation of our culture and
history and hence it is an attack on our culture and history.
It is very important that it is stopped in its tracks".
UNI GV 1755