London : The next general election will be fought between the BJP and the Opposition alliance as for the first time there has been a “systematic attack” on Indian institutions, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has said.
In an interaction with the National Indian Students and Alumni Union (UK) at the London School of Economics yesterday, Gandhi said that the first priority of the Congress is to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and stop the institutions in India from being encroached upon.
“The next election is pretty straightforward. On one side there is BJP and on the other side, there is every opposition party. The reason is, for the first time, Indian institutions are under attack,” he said. “What we are defending is the onslaught on the Indian constitution and Indian institutions, and me and the entire opposition sees it as defending the nature of the Indian state.
“So we’ve agreed that our first priority is to defeat the BJP and stop this encroachment on the institutional space of India, stop the poison that is being spread, stop the division that is taking place,” Gandhi said.
“The important thing is I operate in a democracy. I have been attacked. I have learned and you can see what I bring to the table,” Gandhi said.
The Congress president said that “the essence of our ideology is non-violence. As a victim of violence, I condemn any form of violence on anyone. I’m crystal clear about that.
“I have been through a certain degree of violence. Those experiences have made me compassionate to people”.
Asked what does he bring to the job along with the family name as he has had a very long probation in politics, Gandhi said: “I’ve been through a certain degree of violence. I’ve seen violence up close, I’ve had family members killed and I understand how violence works and why violence is destructive.