Congress leader blames the ruling BJP for opening ‘up space for the terrorists in Kashmir’

The idea of non-violence is under vicious attack in India and the need of the hour is to break the cycle of violence, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said on Monday.

The Congress leader was speaking at an event at the University of California, Berkeley, kicking off his American tour during which he is scheduled to interact with several groups, including U.S opinion makers and lawmakers in multiple cities.

Mr. Gandhi said the ruling BJP government in India operates a social media army to continuously target him and mischaracterise his politics. “..there is a tremendous machine, thousand people or so, and all they do is spread rumours about me. The operation is run by the gentleman running our country,” he said, adding that he is ready for leadership but believed in a bottom-up approach to politics rather than a top-down one. “Most of my work is sitting in a room, listening to people. I collect that information and come out with a solution that makes everyone happy. The way we design a vision is by having a conversation.”

The Congress leader said India’s achievement has been lifting the largest number of people out of poverty in a democratic fashion. Mr. Gandhi recalled that the BJP had opposed the introduction of computers in India by his father Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s. Mr. Gandhi added that the BJP had even questioned the need for IITs in India, when they were founded.

“No democratic country anywhere else in the world has achieved what India has achieved, without violence, peacefully, together,” the Congress leader said.

The path of peaceful and non-violent progress is now under threat as intolerance is on the rise in India, said Mr. Gandhi. Muslims are targeted for eating beef and liberal voices are coming under attack.

“Hatred, anger and violence can destroy us, the politics of polarisation is dangerous…These incidents are making millions feel that they have no future in their country,” said Mr. Gandhi. “This damages India badly.

“Using violence against a person, who is infected by an idea, actually ensures the idea spreads further,” Mr. Gandhi said, recalling the assassination of his grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in 1984. “Her bodyguards, who shot her 32 times, were my friends. I used to play badminton with them. So, one day, I saw my grandmother shot and my friends shot. Violence against anybody is wrong, and I condemn it,” he said.

Mr. Gandhi also faced a question about the violence against the Sikh community following his grandmother’s assassination. A Sikh group also protested outside the venue. “I absolutely love the community. If there’s anything I can do to help them get justice… I’ll be the first person to do so,” Mr. Gandhi said, adding that his grandmother also had love for the Sikhs.

Mr. Gandhi said growth without jobs is meaningless and the earlier architecture of economic development no longer works because it is not creating jobs. Added to this was demonetisation, “a self-inflicted wound that caused a drop of two percent in growth,” he said.

The Congress leader said the gains made in Jammu and Kashmir under the previous government has been reversed due to the politics of the BJP. “When we started, terrorism was rampant in Kashmir. And when we finished by 2013, we basically broke the back of terror, I hugged the [then] Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and told him it was one of the biggest achievements,” Mr. Gandhi said, accusing the current PM Narendra Modi for the slide. “So he [Modi] massively opened up space for the terrorists in Kashmir, and you saw the increase in violence,” said Mr. Gandhi.