“The DNA of the Congress party is to listen to everyone, said Rahul. “The DNA of the Congress party is to listen to everyone, said Rahul.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday that BJP wants to stifle “internal dialogue” in the country and run India like an RSS “shakha”, where they “murder individuality” and trample “divergent voices in the name of discipline”.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who met former PM Manmohan Singh on Wednesday, he said a listless prime minister has taken a “one-hour paathshala” from his predecessor on how to run the economy.

Rahul, who was addressing an NSUI convention here, said the Modi government has made the Opposition’s job easier by committing one mistake after the other. Slamming Modi’s pet Make in India project, he argued that job creation in the past year of NDA rule has been dismal.

“Yesterday, Manmohan Singh said the economy is going down. After that the PM took an hour-long paathshaala from him. He cannot understand how an economy is run. Manmohan Singh helped him understand it. I will ask him,” he said.

Claiming that Congress believes in internal dialogue, Rahul said “It is in our DNA…Outsiders may think there is disorder and confusion. But this is the strength of Congress. We understand India’s complexity and different ideologies. We say let everyone come, sit together and speak on issues…a compromise and a solution will emerge.”

He added: “Look at the other side. Look at RSS shakhas. People stand in a straight line. If somebody utters a word, he is hit with a lathi. Talk to any RSS leader. They say this is how things have been for thousand years and this is how it should be for another thousand years.

Stating that RSS uses discipline as an excuse to murder individuality, the Congress vice-president said: “…Haat kaise marte hain…Germany mein marte the (They raise their arms like they did in Germany)… This thought is running the country today,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi at the NSUI national convention in New Delhi on Thursday. (Source: Express photo by Renuka Puri) Rahul Gandhi at the NSUI national convention in New Delhi on Thursday. (Source: Express photo by Renuka Puri)

In a scathing attack on Modi, Rahul said: “Nowadays, only one man knows everything. You talk of farmers, education or clothes, only one man knows the answers.” He added: “Modiji talks about helping the poor. He went to France, US, China and Mongolia but not to the house of a farmer or a labourer. He had said he would bring back black money in 100 days. They are celebrating their government’s first birthday and there is still no sign of black money coming back.”

Alleging that RSS is spreading its tentacles in the HRD Ministry, Rahul asked students to stop the organisation from “imposing its ideology.”

“Earlier, eminent scientists gave suggestions to IITs. Now they don’t. This is because a certain ideology is being imposed,” he said.

Rahul stressed on India’s diversity. “There are thousands of ideologies in India. We say let all of us talk and find a solution. They say, ‘We will tell you what to speak and what to do’”, he said.

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