Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that his party supports the vision of India which respects diversity of culture, language and various ways of life, reported The Indian Express. Gandhi was speaking at an election rally in Imphal, the capital city of poll-bound Manipur.
The first phase of Assembly elections in Manipur is scheduled to be held on on February 27.
At the rally, Gandhi said there are “two visions of India”. He said the Congress’ vision is opposed to that of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which he said believes in domination of one superior language and ideology.
“BJP comes to Manipur with this sense of superiority,” The Indian Express quoted Gandhi as saying.
Gandhi’s comments were in line with his speech in Parliament on February 2, when he had said that “two Indias” were being created. He had criticised the BJP for the growing inequality in the country and for not respecting the diversity of various states and their cultures.
On Monday, Gandhi told voters that the Congress would support Manipur’s rice farmers and ensure they get remunerated as per the minimum support price regime. He claimed that the BJP’s agenda behind encouraging palm oil plantations in Manipur was to help the business interests of yoga guru Ramdev and “two-three other major companies”.
The Congress leader said that demonetisation, the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax and the three farm laws that have now been repealed, were decisions that were taken to benefit a handful of businesses, The Times of India reported.
“We are not interested in helping Baba Ramdev, we want to protect the future of Manipur,” the report quoted him as saying.
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