‘Shakti I spoke about not religious but power of unrighteousness, corruption’

New Delhi: Under attack for his “fight against shakti” remark made at a rally in Mumbai, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday clarified that he was not talking about any religious power but the ‘shakti’ of unrighteousness, corruption and falsehood.

He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of twisting his words and said he was speaking about the power of which Modi was wearing the mask.

“Modi ji does not like my words, he always tries to change their meaning by twisting them in some way or the other because he knows that I have spoken a solemn truth.

“The ‘shakti’ (power) that I mentioned, Modi ji is the mask of that power and we are fighting against it. It is such a power that today it has captured India’s voice, India’s institutions, the CBI, I-T, ED, Election Commission, the media, Indian industry and the entire constitutional structure of India in its clutches,” he said in post in Hindi on X.

Using the same ‘shakti’ (power), he alleged, Prime Minister Narendra Modi waives loans worth thousands of crores of Indian banks, while an Indian farmer commits suicide when he is unable to repay a loan of a few thousand rupees.

“The same ‘shakti’ (power) is given India’s ports, India’s airports, while India’s youth is given the gift of ‘Agniveer’ that breaks their courage. While saluting the same power day and night, the country’s media suppresses the truth.

“Narendra Modi ji, who is a slave of the same power, imposes GST on the poor of the country without controlling inflation and auctions the country’s wealth to increase the strength of that power.

“I recognise that power and so does Narendra Modi ji. It is not any kind of religious power, it is the power of unrighteousness, corruption and falsehood. That’s why whenever I raise my voice against it, Modi ji and his machine of lies gets upset and enraged,” Gandhi said.

Hitting back at Modi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the prime minister is just a “master” of diverting public attention.

She said the people of the country are struggling with inflation, unemployment and economic crisis, the youth are disappointed and the farmers are committing suicide. She also alleged that demonetisation and the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) ruined lakhs of industries.

“But the prime minister’s priority is to divert public attention by twisting the statements of opposition leaders,” Vadra said in a post in Hindi.

At a rally in Mumbai, Rahul Gandhi commented that, “We are not fighting against a political party...We are not fighting against Narendra Modi, nor are we fighting against one person. But, one face has been projected in the forefront.”

“In Hindu dharma, there is a word ‘shakti’. We are fighting against a ‘shakti’ (power). The question arises as to what is that ‘shakti’...,” he said at the public rally in Mumbai where several leaders of the opposition were present.