India’s main opposition confident of defeating Hindu nationalists
NEW YORK – The leader of India’s largest opposition party, the Congress, has expressed confidence in defeating the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming elections.
Speaking at an event in the U.S., Rahul Gandhi, leader of the centrist Congress party, said his party would decimate the BJP in upcoming state elections ahead of the 2024 general election.
Speaking at an event in New York on Saturday, he said the people of India would defeat the BJP’s hateful ideology.
The leader reminded that his party overwhelmingly defeated the BJP in a recent election in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
He said the BJP had all the media and 10 times the money. Yet, he said, his party decimated it.
“It is not just the Congress party that is going to defeat the BJP. It is the people of India, the people of Madhya Pradesh, the people of Telangana, the people of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh who are going to defeat the BJP,” Gandhi added.
The states of Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan are going to polls by the end of this year ahead of next year general elections.
Gandhi said the BJP could not continue with the kind of hatred it was spreading.
He said the opposition is united and will work together.
He said it was a battle between the divisive and hateful ideology of the BJP and the love filled ideology of the Congress party.
He said in Karnataka, Prime Minister Modi himself had tried to polarize the elections by fomenting anger and hatred among communities.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams also attended the event.
At another event, he told the Indian diaspora that respect for all religions was the best way to fight the BJP.
He said the ruling BJP threatens those who oppose it by abusing the country’s authorities.
He added that there are people in India who believe they know more than God, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “one such specimen.”
Gandhi was recently expelled from parliament.
He was sentenced by a court to two years in prison for questioning Modi’s last name in a defamation case.
He said the disqualification offered him a “great opportunity” to serve the people.
Gandhi arrived in New York on Saturday after visiting Washington and San Francisco. His U.S. trip comes weeks ahead of Modi’s scheduled visit to the country later this month.
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