HAMBURG: Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s hug to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament continues to be a topic of discussion not just in India but beyond the borders too. Rahul who is currently in Germany clarified on Wednesday that he hugged the PM out of affection in response to the hateful remarks directed towards him adding that the latter did not like it.
“Responding hate with hate is foolish. It is not going to solve any problem. The only thing you control is how you respond. I wanted to tell him the world is not all evil places. There are many people who have affection. Prime Minister was making hateful remarks at me, I showed affection. He didn`t like that. He was upset and taken aback, but it works.” he said while addressing a gathering at Kampnagel Theater in Bucerius Summer School.
The Congress President invoked the deaths in his family of his grandmother Indira Gandhi and his father Rajiv Gandhi to reiterate that violence cannot be used to overcome violence. “I have seen two members of my family being killed – my father and grandmother. Violence cannot be overcome by violence. The correct way to deal with violence is to act non-violently. My father was killed by a terrorist in 1991. When the same terrorist died a few years later, I was not happy. I saw myself in his children. I have suffered violence and I can tell you, there is only one way to let it go- forgiveness. And for forgiveness, you need to understand where it is coming from,” he said.
Rahul also attacked the Modi-led government claiming that incidents of mob lynching were being caused by the forceful repatriation of people back into villages. “A large number of people who worked in small businesses were forced back into villages. This is what’s making people angry. All the lynchings we hear about are the result of this. The Dalits, minorities and tribal people are now not allowed to gain from the government. All the money that used to go into schemes for the poor is now going to a few large corporates,” he claimed.
He also said that despite a steady growth, India is facing a sevre shortage of jobs. “The guaranteed employment scheme, right to food, right to information, bank nationalisation was some of the ideas that all governments held through. Now, these ideas are damaged to a great extent,” he claimed.
The Congress President is on a four-day visit to Germany and the United Kingdom during which he will address the Indian Overseas Congress in Berlin on Thursday. In United Kingdom, he will address an event organised by the Indian Overseas Congress in collaboration with local Indian-origin parliamentarians.
Bureau Report
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