Interacting with the students of Manipur State Film Development Society in Imphal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Narendra Modi-led BJP government of forcing one ideology on the whole of India. Gandhi also addressed a public rally subsequently, where he said accused the Modi government of destroying jobs.
He also called on the youngsters in the audience to take active part in politics, to help clean the system.
Here are some key quotes from his speeches:
- “The Prime Minister’s Office is now Publicity Minister’s Office.”
- “In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi destroyed 1 crore jobs in the country. This is the scale of his incompetence. It is absurd and ridiculous that the PM promises giving 2 crore jobs,”
- “Every parent is asking the question, ‘Is my daughter or son going to get a job?’”
- “It is an attempt to crush the spirit of the North East…We are not going to allow it and we will fight tooth and nail to ensure the citizen amendment bill does not become law.”
- “Today… power is being centralised in the chief minister’s office and the prime minister’s office. We would like to delegate power down… to the panchayats, to the lower levels of government so that people can access the political system, participate in the decisions, ask questions and there can be more transparency.”
- “I don’t believe in wholesale privatisation of education system. I believe there is a role for private organizations but the state of the art, foundation of the system has to be public sector, govt institutions.”
- “Every university now has an RSS man in charge. That is something that we will clean out and fix.”
- “We would like universities to have an independent voice.”
- “We will reinstate the special status of Manipur and north-eastern states.”
- “The PM is very good at publicity and marketing himself. He doesn’t have capacity to go into details. He doesn’t like listening, he likes talking. He doesn’t respect people’s opinions.”
- “A Prime Minister’s primary ability should be to be humble and listen to people. They will guide you and tell you what needs to be done. If you think you have all the answers you can never succeed,” Gandhi said.
- “There is an ongoing ideological fight in this country. A fight between those who want to defend all cultures, languages, ideas and those who want to impose one idea. We don’t believe any idea is big enough to be imposed on our people. Ideas should come from inside, not imposed.”
“People of India are systematically being attacked. When people criticising the government are put in jail for treason… everyone is being attacked. The only way to fight it is to stand united.”
Also Read: Congress Will Protect Culture, History and Language of Northeast: Rahul Gandhi