Lagatar24 Desk
Ahmedabad: In a rousing address to Congress workers in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi launched a fierce attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha confidently predicted that his party would defeat the BJP in the upcoming state elections, drawing parallels to the Congress’s victory in Ayodhya during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Mocking PM Modi’s assertion of having a direct connection with God, Gandhi questioned, “Then why did the BJP lose in Ayodhya in the Lok Sabha elections?”
Referring to recent clashes between Congress and BJP members outside the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, Congress’s state headquarters in Ahmedabad’s Paldi area, Gandhi stated, “They (BJP) have challenged us by threatening us and damaging our office. Let me tell you that we are together going to break their government like they damaged our office. Likh ke le lo (take it in writing) that the Congress will contest in Gujarat and defeat Narendra Modi and BJP in Gujarat like we did in Ayodhya.”
Rahul Gandhi emphasized that the Congress would secure victory in Gujarat, initiating a new chapter for the party from the state. The confrontation he mentioned occurred on July 2 when BJP’s youth wing members protested against his remarks on Hindus, leading to stone-pelting and injuries to five policemen, including an Assistant Commissioner of Police.
In his speech, Gandhi also targeted Prime Minister Modi over the BJP’s defeat in the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, which encompasses Ayodhya. “People of Ayodhya felt angry when they found that not a single local person was invited for the Ram Mandir’s inauguration,” he said, adding that PM Modi was advised against contesting from Ayodhya by his surveyors to avoid a potential defeat that could end his political career.
Meanwhile, five Congress workers arrested in connection with the rioting incident were remanded in judicial custody in Ahmedabad just hours before Rahul Gandhi’s arrival for a day-long visit. Gandhi had planned to meet them at Vasna police station, where they were detained, but they were produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate BG Rathod earlier in the morning, following the end of their police remand.
