During an event in Paris attended by students and academics, Rahul Gandhi, a prominent Congress leader, strongly criticized the BJP and its ideological precursor, the RSS. He asserted that the government is prioritizing power at any cost and emphasized that their actions do not align with Hindu principles. The discussion, which took place at Sciences PO University in Paris, a renowned social sciences institution in France, covered various topics. These included Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, the initiatives of the opposition coalition, the evolving global landscape, and other critical issues. He emphasized the Opposition's dedication to safeguarding the "essence of India" and expressed confidence that the country would overcome its current challenges. Stay tuned to Mirror Now for the latest updates.
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#RahulGandhi #Paris #France #Students #Congress #INDIAAlliance #BJP #PMModi #CasteSystem #India #HWNews
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00:00 So I am a master in social policy here at Sciences Po.
00:05 While I might not quite look it,
00:06 I'm actually also part Indian.
00:08 And over this past few years,
00:10 it's been particularly scary to see many of my friends
00:13 and family members back in India become radicalized
00:16 by Hindu nationalist rhetoric.
00:18 My question to you is, you know,
00:20 if your coalition gets elected,
00:22 where exactly do you see yourself placing the role
00:24 of Hinduism in a post-BJP India?
00:27 And how concretely do you propose dismantling
00:30 or perhaps even transforming the legacy
00:32 of a religious zeitgeist,
00:34 which has captured the hearts and minds
00:35 of so many Indians today?
00:38 Look, I've read, I've read the Gita.
00:43 I've read number of the Upanishads.
00:46 I've read many Hindu books.
00:50 There's nothing Hindu about what the BJP does.
00:53 There's absolutely nothing,
00:56 nothing Hindu about what they do.
00:57 (audience applauding)
00:58 Right?
00:59 I have not read anywhere in no Hindu book
01:04 from no Hindu learned Hindu person,
01:10 have I ever heard that you should terrorize,
01:14 harm people who are weaker than you.
01:17 I've never read this.
01:18 So this idea, this word Hindu nationalists,
01:21 this is a wrong word.
01:22 They're not Hindu nationalists.
01:24 They are nothing to do with Hinduism.
01:27 They are out to get power at any cost
01:31 and they will do anything to get power
01:35 and they will do anything to ensure
01:38 that the Indian caste structure,
01:41 the social structure of my country is not threatened.
01:45 They want dominance of a few people
01:49 and that is what they're about.
01:51 There is nothing Hindu about them.
01:55 - Thank you.
01:56 Very clear.
01:57 Gentleman.
01:58 - Hi, thank you for being here.
01:59 My name is Zaid Wahidi.
02:01 I'm a lawyer based in Paris.
02:03 My question is about the opposition's narrative
02:06 for the next election
02:08 and I saw that Ms. Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter
02:10 identifying nine points to the Prime Minister.
02:13 Is that the opposition's pitch?
02:14 Because as a minority, of course,
02:15 it's important for me to have the
02:18 (speaking in foreign language)
02:22 Is there another issue
02:23 or are there certain issues that you have identified
02:26 that will perhaps build more consensus
02:27 with even the majority community
02:29 and get you where you want to be in 2024?
02:33 - You know,
02:34 when you see the people
02:39 on the stage
02:41 in the India coalition,
02:45 you must realize
02:49 that more people
02:51 from the majority community
02:54 vote for us than vote for the BJP.
02:56 60% of India
02:59 votes for us.
03:01 40% of India votes for them.
03:02 So this idea
03:06 that the majority community is not,
03:08 is voting for the BJP,
03:09 this is a wrong idea.
03:11 The majority community actually votes more for us
03:13 than they vote for them.
03:14 They do polarize society.
03:19 They divide society.
03:21 They spread hatred in society.
03:23 And that is their mechanism.
03:25 They also happen to have
03:28 very good relationships
03:31 with the
03:32 most powerful, richest crony capitalists in the land
03:36 who finance them, support them,
03:38 help them do what they do.
03:42 And so this is the architecture
03:44 that stands behind the BJP.
03:47 The idea that Mr. Narendra Modi is orchestrating this thing
03:51 is a gross simplification.
03:53 Mr. Narendra Modi is
03:55 an instrument of the architecture.
03:59 And I'm pretty confident that the RSS
04:01 can get rid of Narendra Modi in five minutes
04:03 if they want to.
04:04 It is a structure
04:08 that is doing this.
04:10 And that structure is now a threat to Indian democracy.
04:15 So we are committed to fighting that structure.
04:18 What are the broader elements?
04:20 The first thing is the gross inequality
04:23 that is taking place in India.
04:25 Few business people who are billionaires,
04:30 the third richest person on the planet was Indian,
04:33 and 90% of India
04:37 going back into poverty.
04:41 So that's the first thing.
04:43 The second thing is we have to solve
04:45 what I was talking about earlier.
04:47 We keep talking about economic growth.
04:52 You read the newspapers about economic growth, right?
04:55 Have you ever read in the newspaper
04:58 next to the economic growth question,
05:00 the employment question?
05:03 Has anybody in the newspapers said, "Wait a minute,
05:07 we are growing at 7%, 8%,
05:09 but we have the highest unemployment rate in 40 years?"
05:13 That's a much more interesting question to me
05:15 because we can grow at 9% and give none of you jobs.
05:20 Right?
05:22 That's what's happening.
05:26 So that's the second big question.
05:28 And the third question that is very close to my heart
05:31 is the large mass, the real power of India
05:36 is in the lower castes,
05:41 the other backward castes,
05:42 these communities,
05:43 and they are not given any space in the governance of India.
05:48 They're not given any space in corporate India.
05:52 They're not given any space anywhere.
05:54 And that to me is a crime.
05:55 So those would be the central thrusts
05:59 of how we would think about it.
06:01 The final thing I would say is that
06:04 one way to look at India
06:07 is that it is making a transition from rural to urban,
06:12 and the largest migration of people
06:17 from rural to urban in human history ever
06:23 is taking place in India and China.
06:26 And if we're gonna be making this transition,
06:30 this is a frightening transition for a lot of people,
06:32 so we need to give them the basic minimum architecture
06:36 to make this transition safely.
06:39 What does that mean?
06:41 That we spend a serious amount of money on education.
06:43 We spend a serious amount of money on healthcare.
06:47 That government does not abrogate responsibility
06:50 for healthcare and education.
06:51 And that we provide a minimum floor
06:54 where India commits to all its people
06:59 that no matter what happens,
07:01 you can simply not go below that floor.
07:03 We will give you a minimum income below which
07:06 no matter what happens, you're not gonna go.
07:09 But when I talk to students,
07:11 especially the Indian students here,
07:13 and the students who are not from India,
07:19 the injustice that the caste system in India does,
07:25 the pain and trauma that the caste system in India causes
07:31 is beyond anything I know anywhere else in the world.
07:36 And so I see my politics as
07:40 challenging the idea
07:44 that there should be this caste order in India,
07:51 that there should be this permanent hierarchy in India,
07:53 and that some people should have access
07:57 to all the institutions, all the structures,
08:01 and other people should just live a life
08:05 of poverty and misery.
08:06 So this would be the framework
08:08 that the Indian coalition would be talking about
08:11 and thinking about.
08:13 - Thank you.
08:14 Gentleman over there.
08:15 - Thank you, ma'am.
08:15 - And by the way, when I said minimum floor,
08:19 I didn't only mean financial floor.
08:22 So I think the idea that 200 million people
08:26 can feel uncomfortable in India today,
08:29 or Sikhs can feel uncomfortable in India today,
08:33 I think that is a matter of shame for us.
08:35 And I think that needs to be corrected.
08:37 And there are minorities who feel that way.
08:40 There are lower caste people who feel that way.
08:42 There are women who feel that way.
08:44 And so we are very strongly committed to this.
08:46 (upbeat music)
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09:01 (dramatic music)