Former Congress President Shri Rahul Gandhi addressed the 85th Plenary Session in Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh on February 26, 2023

I welcome Kharge Ji, Sonia Gandhi Ji, Bhupesh Baghel Ji, KC Venugopal Ji, Priyanka Gandhi Ji, all the senior leaders of the Congress Party on stage, our beloved workers, brothers and sisters and all our friends from the press. I also welcome all the people who are watching this session in different states on television.

We travelled from Kanyakumari to Srinagar for four months. You saw my face in the video, but millions of people went with us. We all walked together irrespective of all the hardships accruing to the weather conditions like heavy rainfall, snowfall or extreme heat. I got to learn a lot. Just now when I was watching the video, I was missing a lot of things. In the video, you must have seen a mechanic in Punjab who met me. As soon as I held his hands, I could feel his years-long ‘tapasya’, his years-long pain, his sorrows, his happiness, everything. Similar was my connection with millions of farmers because as soon as they held my hands, as soon as they shook my hands, as soon as they hugged me, there used to be a sort of transmission between us. Words were definitely needed initially about what did they do, how many children they had, what all difficulties they faced etc.?

It went on for about a month and a half. After that, there was never any need to express things in words. I understood their pain and their hard work as soon as I held their hands or hugged them. Not a word was spoken. The feelings got mutual.

I just saw - you must have seen that boat race in Kerala. At the time, when I was sitting in the boat, I was rowing with the whole team. There was severe pain in my leg. I can be seen smiling in that photo, but I was crying deep inside my heart, it was so painful.

I started the journey. I am a fit man who can run for 10-12 kilometres with great ease. With an air of vanity, I thought since I could walk for 10-12 kilometres easily, walking for 20-25 kms would be effortless. This is what was there in my mind. There was an old injury. I was hurt while playing football in the college. I remember, I was running when my friend tripped me up and as a result, I suffered a knee injury. The pain had disappeared, the pain had been missing for years but suddenly as soon as I started the Yatra, the pain returned. Since you are my family, I can share this with you - I used to wake up in the morning and wonder how to go so far. It wasn’t about 25-30 kms, it was a huge distance of 3,500 kms! It is a matter of Kerala, 3,500 kms of walking, how will I walk but then I used to descend from the container and walk. After meeting people for the first 10-15 days, all my ego, my pride, call whatever you may, ‘Melted’ and the reason - because ‘Bharat Mata’ gave me a message - Look, if you have come out, if you have come out to walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, then erase ego from your heart, erase pride, otherwise do not go and I had to listen to this. It was beyond my capacity to disregard this voice. And I noticed that gradually I got silenced myself.

Earlier, I used to meet farmers and I used to try to explain my knowledge to them. I used to try to say whatever little I know about farming, about MGNREGA, fertilizers etc. Suddenly, all this stopped. I experienced peace and started listening in silence. Suddenly, this change came over and when I reached Jammu-Kashmir, it was also a strange thing, when I reached Jammu and Kashmir, I was absolutely silent. You may call it something ‘Meditative’. Priyanka and I do ‘Vipasana’ so something of that sort happened and I became absolutely silent. It so happened once that my mother was sitting, I was younger, it is a matter of 1977, when elections were round the corner. I did not know anything about the election. I was 6 years old. One day, there was a strange atmosphere in the house. I went to my mother who was sitting, not looking here. I went to her and asked, what happened ‘mummy’ and she said, we are leaving home. Till then, I used to think that the house was ours. So, I asked my mother as to why were we leaving our house and for the first time, my mother told me that Rahul, this is not our house, this is the government’s house and now we have to vacate it. I asked about where were we going? She said- I do not know. I don’t know where to go. I was surprised, I thought it was our house. It has been 52 years, I do not own a house, till date there is no house and our ancestral house is in Allahabad. That too is not our home. So, I have a very strange bond with a house just as it is. I live at 12, Tughlaq lane, but it is not a house for me.

So, when I came out of Kanyakumari, I asked myself what my responsibility was and here I am - walking. I have come out to seek India, I have come out to understand India. Thousands of people are walking, there is a huge crowd, what is my responsibility? I thought for a while and then an idea struck me- I called the people of my office who were with me, walking. I told them - See, thousands of people are walking here, they will be pushed, people will get hurt. It is a thick crowd. We have to do one thing-in my side, 20-25 feet forward in front of me, this place is 20-25 feet on this side, this is the empty space, in which the people of India will come, will come to meet us. So, for the next four months, it is our ‘home’ which roughly means that this house will go with us. From 6 am to 7 pm, this house will go with us and I told everyone, whoever will come into this house - be rich, poor, elderly, young, child, any religion, any state, anyone from outside India, animal - one should feel that I have come to my house today and when he leaves from here, he should feel that I am leaving my house.

It was a trivial idea, but I did not understand its depth then. As soon as I did this, the day I did this, the journey changed altogether, as if magically. People were not talking political to me. I can’t even tell you what all I heard. What the women of India have told me about this country, I cannot tell you. What is the fear in the heart of the youth, how is it - I cannot explain, but I can only tell without explaining, how much overburdened they are! So, the relationship changed completely.

I want give an example. I do not know whether you saw it or not. We were walking in the morning. A woman on the side was standing in a crowd, hesitating, she did like this. As soon as I saw her, I called her. I found it strange. The moment I grabbed her hand when she came to me, I came to know that something is wrong. Just as I hold Priyanka’s hand, I held her hand without any difference. I thought, at that time I thought, this is not my sister, what am I doing. This love is for my sister, how am I giving this to a stranger, it felt strange. She holds my hand and says Rahul ji, brother, I have come to meet you. I asked- what is the matter? She says, “My husband is thrashing me, beating me mercilessly.” I ask, “When?”. She says- “Just now. Just now, he was beating me. I have run away from home just to meet you.” So, I ask her to contact the police to which she pitiably says ‘No’. Then she tells me, “Now I am going back, I am going to get beaten again, but I just wanted to tell you what is happening to me. This is not only about me a single woman, there are millions of women in this country like me.”

So, I got to listen to all this and we carried that house to Jammu & Kashmir slowly. I do not know but my family came from there years ago. I thought that it is a strange thing for me to take this small house from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, but here I stand feeling that I am going back to my house. We enter Kashmir, there is snow before Valley, sunshine, like today, and thousands of people are walking with us. A boy comes to me, walks with me and tells me Rahul ji, I want to ask you a question. So, when I asked him to continue, he says, Rahul ji, when the people of Kashmir are sad, when our heart is hurt, why are the people of India happy? I said that there is no such thing, you have a huge misunderstanding. I have come here from Kanyakumari. I can claim that crores of people do not have this feeling in their hearts. Crores of people stand with the pain of every Indian, with every Indian himself/herself. I said there are only a chosen few people who are happy. He exchanges earnest glances with me and says, “Rahul ji, you made me very happy. You made me very happy.”

While talking, I was looking around - the tricolour around, the tricolour on the road, the tricolour on the mountains, the tricolour everywhere. Then we entered the Valley - The valley welcomes us with thick clouds. The sun disappears and as soon as we enter, the policemen had told us that 2000 people will come. My security people were under the impression that 2000 people would come. As soon as we enter, 40 thousand people are standing there. As soon as the police saw 40 thousand people, it left the rope and ran away. We were watching them the ‘Rope Party’, as we call them- all of them disappeared. I was watching with pride - in India’s most terrorist infested district, there was tricolour all around. And those who were holding the tricolour were not merely the 125 passengers who had travelled with us. They were the people of Kashmir who were holding the tricolour. It wasn’t any one person but thousands of Kashmiri people who were holding the tricolour and the same story ran throughout Kashmir - Anantnag, Pulwama - the Terrorist Infected Districts there was tricolour everywhere, on the mountains, on the roads, just all around! That was the Kashmiri youth. People from CRPF are telling me that brother, we have not seen this in our entire lives up till now. Whatever happened is stupendous!

Then I came back and I heard the speech of the Prime Minister in the Parliament. He said that he too had gone to Kashmir and hoisted the tricolour at Lal Chowk. I was listening to him and thought that the Prime Minister of India did not understand the matter itself. Narendra Modi Ji went with 15-20 people of BJP and hoisted the tricolour at Lal Chowk. The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ hoisted the tricolour along with lakhs of our youth. The Prime Minister did not understand the difference. We placed the spirit of India, the spirit of this flag in the heart of the youth of Jammu and Kashmir. You snatched the spirit of your flag from the youth of Jammu-Kashmir. This is the difference between us and you. This flag, this tricolour - it is the feeling of the heart. It comes from inside the heart. We invoked this feeling inside the hearts of Kashmiri youth. They came holding the tricolour of their own accord, without us urging them to do so. There were thousands of millions who walked with the tricolour in their hands. Why - let me tell you as a Kashmiri youth told me. He tells me, “Rahul ji, today I am walking with you because you have trusted us and me. You have opened your heart for us and we will open our heart for you.” This is the difference.

‘Hindustan’ is a feeling, a way of thinking, respect, love, and this flag, the tricolour, it is a symbol of this feeling and the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ has spread this feeling in the whole country. And this work has not been done by Rahul Gandhi, it has been done by Congress workers, Congress leaders have done this, the people of India have done it.

Now see I want to tell you about the government’s thinking today. In an interview a few days ago, a minister said that China’s economy is larger than the economy of India. So how can we fight them? China’s economy is larger than the economy of India, so how can we fight them. When the British ruled us, was their economy smaller than our economy? That means you wish to convey that you do not fight with those who are more powerful than you. Fight with those who are weaker than you. This is called ‘Cowardice’. This is what is Savarkar’s ideology - if the one standing against you is stronger than you, then cow down and bow down in front of him, and pay your obeisance. Indian ministers are telling China that your economy is bigger than ours, so we cannot stand in front of you. Is this called ‘Nationalism’? Is this called ‘Patriotism’? What kind of ‘Patriotism’ is this? You kill those who are weaker than you and you bend in front of those who are stronger than you. For this, Mahatma Gandhi had given a word which is called ‘Satyagraha’. Meaning of Satyagraha- Never leave the path of truth. There is a new word for the RSS-BJP, we are ‘Satyagrahi’, they are ‘Sattagrahi’ (Receptor of and Blinded by Power). They will do anything for power. They will meet anyone, bow in front of anyone for power. This is their truth.

The last thing and I did not understand this. I attacked an industrialist at Parliament House. I attacked Adani Ji. I questioned how Adani ji reached the second number from 609th. Whatever or wherever your foreign policy is made - whether it is Bangladesh, whether it is Israel, whether it is Australia, Sri Lanka Adani Ji gets benefit everywhere. He grabbed all the defense contracts in Israel. A person in Sri Lanka says that Rajapaksa told him that Narendra Modi Ji pressurized them to give contract to Adani Ji. So, I just asked a question, Narendra Modi ji, what is your relation with Adani? I did not say anything else. I just asked the question that tell me what is your relation with Adani and I showed a photo where Narendra Modi Ji is sitting in Adani Ji’s airplane and relaxing. So, I asked Modi Ji gently to tell me how is he linked with Adani Ji?

Now you must have noticed that the entire government, all the ministers have started protecting Adani ji. It is said that the one who attacks Adani is a traitor. Meaning - Adani ji has become the biggest patriot in the country and BJP and RSS are protecting this person. The question arises as to why is the BJP protecting this person? What is so important in this Adani that BJP and RSS, all the ministers are required to protect him? You must listen to the biggest question - who does these ‘Shell Companies’ belong to, which are sending thousands of crores of rupees to India? Whose money is invested in these? Adani ji works in the defense industry and the government of India does not even know that Adani has shell companies outside. Why is there not an investigation in this? Why is JPC not happening? It is a matter of defense. It is a case of protecting the country. We should find out whose money is it, whose companies are these. But the government is doing literally nothing. Well, this is a big question. LIC’s investment. They are at a loss. There is a photo in circulation in Australia where Narendra Modi ji is sitting, the Chairman of the State Bank is sitting, the Chief Minister is sitting there, Adani ji is sitting on a table. State Bank is giving a loan of one billion dollars. Why is Narendra Modi sitting on that table? What does Narendra Modi have to do with State Bank and Adani?

So, these are the questions that I asked Narendra Modi ji. The answer was very straight - there is no relation. The answer was simple. We asked what is the relationship, Narendra Modi could have said that there is no relationship. But there is a relationship.

Brothers and sisters, Adani and Modi ji are one. They are one and the entire wealth of the country is going into the hands of one person. Airport, Port, Defence, Infrastructure, Storage, Agriculture Storage, Apple, Apple in Himachal Pradesh, Apple in Kashmir, the whole money is going into the hands of one person and then we ask the Prime Minister, how come Adani reach number 2 from number 609? Just tell me what is the relationship? Our entire speech gets expunged. Kharge Ji’s entire speech gets expunged. No question can be asked about Adani ji in the Parliament of India. We will ask, not once, we will ask thousands of times, we will not stop. Until the truth comes out, Adani Ji’s truth, we will not stop and there is a reason for this, brothers and sisters and especially those who work in Adani Ji’s company, I want to say that this company of yours, it is harming the country. It is snatching the entire infrastructure of the country. Brothers and sisters, remember, the freedom struggle was also fought against the East India Company, that too was a company. That company had also taken away all the wealth of India, all the infrastructure, ports, everything. History is repeating itself. This work is being done against the country and if any work is done against the country, then the Congress Party will stand up and fight.

Last thing I want to say is that this Party is a Party of ‘tapasvis’, it is not a Party of priests. This is a Party of ‘tapasvis’, of ‘tapasya’ and you saw, that I indulged in a little act of ‘tapasya’ for four months and you saw how the Congress Party came to life, how the workers of the Congress Party were reinvigorated, how the country came to life!‘Tapasya’ must not stop. The programme should keep running, the programme of ‘tapasya’ must continue. Every Congress worker should be involved in that, every leader should be involved, there should be an experience of pain, difficulty, toil, injury in that programme.

Kharge Ji is the President of Congress, senior leaders are sitting here. I urge you to make a programme of ‘tapasya’, we will join in the ‘tapasya’, give our blood and sweat to this country and I guarantee you, as soon as we stand in ‘tapasya’, the whole of India will stand with us, because this country belongs to ‘tapasvis’. So, make a programme Kharge ji, make a programme. Your entire team, of which even I am a part, all the Congress leaders are involved, every worker is involved, the people of the country are involved, we will run that programme, we will do ‘tapasya’, we will give our ‘blood and sweat’.

Thank you very much. Jai Hind!