Rahul Gandhi alleges Modi, Godse share same ideology

Wayanad (Kerala)/New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday fired a fresh salvo at Narendra Modi alleging that the prime minister believed in the same ideology as Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.

Gandhi's attack on Modi on a day coinciding with the 72nd death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi drew a sharp response from BJP leader and union minister Pralhad Joshi who said there cannot be a more "arrogant" person than the Gandhi scion who once tore down the ordinance brought by his own government and slammed the then prime minister Manmohan Singh.

Addressing thousands of party workers after leading the "Save the Constitution" march at Kalpetta in Kerala, the Wayanad MP also said Modi was making Indians to prove that they are citizens of the country.

Referring to Godse, Gandhi said Modi shared the same ideology with him (Godse).

"Today, an ignorant man is trying to challenge Gandhi's ideology. He is so full of hatred and anger that he cannot even understand what India's strength is," he added.

"The ideology is same. Nathuram Godse and Narendra Modi, they believe in the same ideology. There is no difference except that Modi does not have the guts to say he believes in the ideology of Godse," the Congress leader said.

Pralhad Joshi, who is the Parliamentary Affairs minister, claimed that leaders and chief ministers of Gandhi's own party have to wait for long hours to meet him and he doesn't even bother to listen to them.

"There cannot be a more arrogant person than Rahul Gandhi who tore down the ordinance brought by his own party's government led by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and condemned it," Joshi told reporters after an all-party meeting in the Parliament House in Delhi.

Joshi was referring to a 2013 incident when Rahul Gandhi slammed the Congress-led UPA government for bringing an ordinance to nullify a Supreme Court order on disqualifying convicted MPs and MLAs.

At a news conference in Delhi, Gandhi had termed the ordinance a "complete nonsense" that should be "torn and thrown out".

Another BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya wondered which ideology Rahul Gandhi believed in.

"Nobody takes Rahul Gandhi seriously. He should first say what is his ideology and in which ideology he believes in. He should stop lecturing others," Vijayvargiya said in Kolkata.

Attacking the prime Minister on the new Citizenship law, Gandhi questioned Modi and asked who was he to ask Indians to prove that they were Indians.

"Indians are being made to prove that they are Indians. Who is Narendra Modi to decide if I am Indian? Who gave him the licence to decide who is Indian and who is not Indian? I know I am an Indian and I don't have to prove it to anybody", the former Congress president said, adding the 1.3 billion Indians do not have to prove to these people that they are Indians.

He said the country needs to fight the hatred that is being spread and there is need to confront the BJP peacefully.

"Our duty is to fight their hatred. Our duty is to confront them (BJP) peacefully...we do not believe in

violence...we believe in love and affection. We will defeat them with love and affection," he added.

India, which is the land of different languages and religions, used to show the world how great a country it was, he said.

Touching on growing unemployment in the country and the economic slowdown, Gandhi said the youngsters do not have a future under Modi and no matter how much the prime minister talks about Pakistan, it was not going to get youths more jobs.

National Register of Citizens (NRC) and CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and the present situation in Kashmir were also not going to get people jobs, he added.

"We all understand that youngsters have no future under Modi...You can study as much as you can but there are no jobs. Today, if you go to the US, Western Europe, or any other country and ask what they feel about India, they say India has lost its way".