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Rahul Gandhi Says Narendra Modi Experiment Failed, Now Trust the Congress

Gandhi was speaking at a rally in Wardha after the Congress Working Committee meeting, which called for a 'new freedom struggle'.
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Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday stepped up his attack of the Narendra Modi government over the alleged scam related to the Rafale plane deal and asked people to give his party a chance in the upcoming elections.

"We don't speak our mind but we listen to what you have to say. You tried Narendra Modi and that experiment failed. He betrayed your faith. Now trust the Congress party and Mahatma Gandhi's ideology," he said at a rally in Wardha after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting.

On the 150 birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress leader also sought to call out Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party over the rising communal and casteist attacks in the country.

"Gandhiji called for unity, but Narendra Modi says divide the country, make one caste fight against another, one religion fight against another," Gandhi alleged.

Claiming that Modi had not fulfilled his promises to the people of the country, Gandhi said that the Congress is a party of "poor, exploited, farmers, and small traders".

Earlier in the day, the CWC met at the Sewagram Ashram in Wardha and gave a call of 'Do or Die' to Congress workers to "fearlessly defend and uphold India's foundational values and idea of India, which Mahatma Gandhi stood for, lived for and even sacrificed his life for".

The meeting has great symbolic value for the Congress. Seventy-six years ago, in July 1942, the CWC adopted the 'Quit India' resolution against British rule after a nine-day long meet at the Sewagram Ashram. A month later, the 'Quit India' movement was launched under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, who gave a call of 'Karo Ya Maro (Do or Die)' to his countrymen, which led to an unprecedented mass mobilization against British rule.

The meeting, presided over by Gandhi, was attended by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former Union minister P.Chidambaram and other senior Congress leaders.

The Congress top body underscored "the blatant hypocrisy of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)" which, it claimed, "vilified and rejected Mahatma Gandhi during his lifetime, and which today has brazenly proclaimed itself to be his champion".

"It is the RSS's ideology that was responsible for spreading the atmosphere of hate that led to the Mahatma's tragic assassination. Today, a new freedom struggle is the urgent need of the hour—a massive movement to combat the forces of divisiveness and prejudice, to confront the Modi government whose politics is the politics of threat and intimidation, the politics of polarization and divisiveness, the politics of crushing debate and dissent, the politics of imposing an artificial uniformity in a nation of extraordinary diversity, the politics of hate and vendetta, the politics of subverting all Constitutional values, principles and practices, the politics of lies, deceit, fraud and subterfuge," the CWC said in its resolution.

Hinting that it would make the upcoming elections a fight of ideologies, the CWC said that only the Congress truly embodies the ethos of India.

"It is only the Congress that is deeply committed to the principles of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity, laid down in the Preamble of the Constitution. The CWC resolves that this fundamental message must be renewed and propagated to all corners of India, especially to the younger generation, by every member of the Congress party. Most importantly, the CWC takes inspiration from the Mahatma's unyielding commitment to listen to every voice, to defeat the forces that are today dominating the will of the people. Elections will come and go. But the ideological battle has to be relentless and unswerving," read the resolution passed in Tuesday's meeting.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.