Even as he claimed that Tamil Nadu was going through a period of “political confusion”, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday charged the BJP government in the Centre with not only arm-twisting the AIADMK government in the State but also running it.
During an interaction with the media at the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee head office at Sathyamurthy Bhavan, which he was visiting after about six years, Mr. Gandhi said, “Yes... it is not only that they [BJP] are arm-twisting [the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu]... The BJP is convinced that they run Tamil Nadu.”
‘Will fight ideology’
However, the opposition parties were united against the BJP’s and the RSS’ idea of India and they would “fight and defeat” attempts to “thrust one idea” on a country that celebrated diversity in various spheres.
Alleging that the BJP’s “cultural imperialism” was not acceptable to the people of the country, he claimed that it was of the view that only those who believed in the RSS and others — be it the Congress or other parties — should not exist.
India was a land of “thousands of different ideas” and that could never be crushed by the idea of the RSS, Mr. Gandhi said.
“The central idea we are fighting is the idea of RSS,” he added.
Earlier, emerging from a meeting with DMK leader M. Karunanidhi at Gopalapuram, Mr. Gandhi told media persons that the BJP-led Central government was mishandling the Kashmir issue and feared that it would set Kashmir on fire.
“I told Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seven months ago that they are mishandling Kashmir. They are trying to gain political advantage. Kashmir is India’s strength, but they are making it as a weakness.”
Opportunity beckons
During his address to senior party leaders at Satyamurthy Bhavan, Mr. Gandhi said it was up to the party to grab the opportunity presented by the current political situation.
The youth in the State were not able to see anything clearly and the Congress could leverage this, Mr. Gandhi said.
The Congress vice president also held a meeting with Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Su. Thirunavukkarasar, Leader of the Legislative Party K.R. Ramasamy and other party MLAs.