Congress leader Rahul Gandhi intensified his attack on the BJP-led Centre, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP and the RSS have a habit of looking back and they have always blamed someone for the past.
He also said the Congress did not blame the British for the train accidents that took place during its rule but the minister took the responsibility.
Addressing the gathering here at the Javits Center, Rahul said, “Back home we have a problem. BJP and the RSS are incapable of looking at the future. You ask them anything and they then look backward. Ask them why the train met with an accident, then they will say it happened during Congress too. When you ask why periodic table evolution was removed from books, then they will say Congress did this 60 years ago. They have a habit of looking backward.”
Citing an example, the Congress leader added: “All of you came here from your car, just imagine if the only thing you did was to look in the rear view mirror while driving, then you would have met with an accident.”
“That is the phenomenon of Modi. He is trying to drive the Indian car and always looks in the rear view mirror and then he does not understand why this car is crashing and not moving forward. And it is the same idea with the BJP, RSS, you listen to their Ministers. You will never find them talking about the future, they will always talk about the past. And they will always blame somebody for the past,” he said, taking a swipe at the BJP.
Rahul added: “A train accident happened during the Congress government and our party did not get up and say that now it is the fault of the British that the train has crashed.”
He said, “The Congress Minister would have said that it is my moral responsibility and I am resigning.”
His remarks on the international platform over the Balasore train accident came hours after he demanded the resignation of Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. In the horrific train accident on Friday evening in Balasore 275 people lost their lives and over 1,000 injured.
The Congress leader also said: “This is the problem back at home that we make excuses and that we are not accepting the reality that we are facing, which is unemployment numbers.”
Discussing about the relevance of non-resident Indians in the country’s politics, the senior Congress leader said, “The central architect of modern India was an NRI, Mahatma Gandhi was an NRI…The freedom movement of India began in South Africa…Nehru, BR Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Subhas Chandra Bose, all were NRIs and had an open mind to the outside world. They all came home with different ideas.”
“That’s what I expect from you (the Indian community),” he said.
He also said that the BJP and RSS talk about the past whereas the Congress talks about the future.
“And I believe one of the reasons that I have come here is because if we want to build India where the vast majority of our youngsters are employed and to build a bridge between India and the US. What does it look like and how do we compete with the challenge the Chinese have put forth? What is our view on the revolution on mobility, data and connectivity and on the transformations that are taking place in the energy sector,” he said.
Indian Overseas Congress Secretary Virendra Vashisth said that before Rahul’s address to the Indian diaspora here, all the leaders and people observed one-minute silence for the victims of the Balasore train tragedy.
Rahul is on a six-day visit to the US. He has addressed several programmes and also attended meetings in cities of San Francisco and Washington.
His remarks on the BJP government has created furore back at home.
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