Extracts of the speech of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Shri Rahul Gandhi during the Motion of thanks to the President’s Address in Lok Sabha, Parliament House on July 1, 2024.
Thank you hon’ble speaker for the opportunity …Jai Constitution! We have protected it. The country has protected the Constitution together and it feels good now that every 2-3 minutes the BJP people are saying Constitution, Constitution, Constitution, Constitution. Speaker sir, for the last 10 years, there has been a systematic attack on the Constitution, on the idea of India and on anybody, who opposed. There was a systematic, full-scale assault on the idea of India, on the Constitution and also on millions-and-millions of people who resisted the idea being proposed by the BJP; who resisted the attack on the Constitution.
Many of us, personally were attacked. In fact, some of our leaders are still in jail. One of our leaders has just recently been released, another one still in jail and not only the Opposition, but anybody who resisted the idea of concentration of power, of concentration of wealth, of aggression on the poor, of aggression on Dalits, minorities, tribal, was crushed, violently crushed! People were put in jail. People were threatened and I myself was attacked. I myself was attacked by order of the government of India, by order, obviously of the Prime Minister of India. 20 plus cases, two-year jail sentence, my house taken away- no problem! Relentless attack in the media, 24/7, every single day, abuse-attack, abuse-attack and then the most enjoyable and beautiful part of it, 55 hours of interrogation by the ED. No! which I really enjoy because by the end of the interrogation, the officer, off the camera, he switched off the camera and then he asked me, Rahul Ji, you have been sitting here for 55 hours. You are like a rock, why don’t you move? He asked me this question. So when such an attack happens… when there is an attack like this on you, you obviously need refuge, you need a place, or you need ideas that defend you.
So, today I want to start my speech by telling my friends in the BJP and the RSS about the ideas that we use, the entire opposition use to defend the idea of INDIA. Where these ideas come from and how they gave us the strength, all of us, anybody who oppose the regime, how they gave us the strength to fearlessly take any onslaught that was placed before us. So, I would like to start by showing an image of our refuge, okay!
Sir, is it forbidden to show the picture of Lord Shiva in this house, please tell me. Sir, is it forbidden or not? So, it is forbidden to show the picture of Lord Shiva in this house. Pictures of other things can be shown here, but the picture of Lord Shiva cannot be shown. I am saying that we got protection from them and I want to explain how we got protection, but you are not letting me show the picture. After this, I have more pictures, I wanted to show them all. Speaker Sir, everybody knows this image, Speaker sir, why I got this image is because there are certain ideas in this image that we defend, that the Opposition defends. The first idea in the image that we defend is the idea of confronting our fear, of never being scared, that idea is represented in this image, which you are not allowing me to show, by a snake that is placed right near the neck of Shiv Ji. The idea behind that is never be scared of anything that you face.
In fact, Shiv Ji, places death an inch from his neck and that is the spirit with which we fought when we were in the Opposition. From this idea, of resisting, we are still in the Opposition I know, I know that, and I am happy and proud to be in the Opposition because for us, there is more than power, there is truth for you, there is only power that is the only place you want to be, for us there is truth, and this is a symbol of truth.
So, when Shiv Ji places the snake near his neck, what he is saying, I will accept the truth and I will not back down from the truth and that is what we have said. After that, a new idea emerges and of course, I cannot show Shiv Ji’s picture, but all of you know it, behind the left shoulder of Shiv Ji is the Trishul. Now, I would like you to understand that there is a reason that the Trishul, a weapon, has been placed behind the left shoulder. The Trishul is not a symbol of violence. It is a symbol of non-violence and that is why it is placed in a place, where Shiva cannot reach with his right hand. If it was a symbol of violence, it would have been held in his right hand like this. It is a symbol of non-violence and that is why it is placed behind his left shoulder.
When we fought the BJP, we were not violent. When we defended the truth, there was not an ounce of violence in us. Now, there is a third idea, a very powerful idea that emerges from the idea of truth, courage and non-violence and that idea of course is a symbol that many of you hate, but that idea is the Abhayamudra, the symbol of the Congress Party which as you can see is also in this image and Jai Mahadev and what that Rajnath Singh Ji is looking very surprised and what that Abhayamudra shows. It is the next step of the evolution of the idea of facing the truth, fearlessness, and Ahinsa, Satya and Ahinsa as Mahatma Gandhi Ji used to say, and the Abhayamudra is the idea that it is not good enough to just keep this internal. It is not good enough to not be scared, it is not good enough to use non-violence. It is also important that you make others not scared, that you help others become fearless, that you help others become non-violent.
So, in a sense, the Abhayamudra is a projection from Shiv Ji to the rest of the world about these two ideas. Of course, these two ideas were used by us, all of us, when we fought the British and they were put forth by Mahatma Gandhi Ji. The Prime Minister, of course, who has a direct connection with God, has a direct speech, directly to God. Yes! The Paramatma speaks to Modi Ji’s Atama directly, unlike with all humans. We are all biological. We are born, we die, but the Prime Minister is a non-biological being. And the Prime Minister says, Gandhi is dead, and Gandhi was revived by a movie… Can you understand the ignorance that Gandhi is dead and a movie revives the ‘Father of the Nation’ …No! No! No! No! Gandhi is not dead, Gandhi is alive.
Now, another very interesting thing I noticed it… and there is another, I noticed that it is not just one religion that talks about courage. In fact, all our religions talk about courage. So, here is the religion of Islam.Okay, I will not show you, Sir, how do I do it? I want to explain, but I am not able to explain. Sir, I am not able to understand. So, it is said even in Islam as well, I read... it is written in Islam as well, in the Quran - The prophet,peace be upon him said- he (Allah) said- have no fear, I am with you, hearing and seeing. That means - it is also said in Islam that one should not be afraid and when prayers are offered in Islam, the Abhaya Mudra is shown with both hands, with the right hand.
Now, let us move towards Guru Nanak Ji, “Wahe Guru Ka Khalsa! Wahe Guru Ki Fateh!” The religion which you attack every day, you will see the Abhay Mudra in the picture of Guru Nanak Ji too. Guru Nanak Ji also says do not be afraid, do not scare others and from Punjab, Guru Nanak Ji went to Mecca, Thailand, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, did not commit violence against anyone, spoke about non-violence, spoke about truth and he did not scare anyone in his life.
After that, you will see the Abhay Mudra in the image of Jesus Christ as well. Abhay Mudra in the image of Jesus Christ as well, do not be afraid, do not scare others and Jesus Christ said that if someone slaps you, then show the other cheek.
After that, Lord Buddha, Abhay Mudra - do not be afraid, do not scare others, non-violence and finally Mahavira (Mahaveer Swami’s picture shown) - do not be afraid, do not scare others, Abhay Mudra. It means there are three foundational ideas in the history of India.
Modi ji said in his speech one day that India has not attacked anyone. The reason for this is because this is a country of non-violence. This is not a country of fear. So, all our great men talked about non-violence, talked about eliminating fear - don’t be afraid, don’t scare others and on the other hand Lord Shiva says don’t be afraid, don’t scare others, shows Abhaymudra, talks about non-violence, buries his trident in the ground and those who call themselves Hindus, they talk about violence- violence- violence, hatred- hatred- hatred, untruth- untruth- untruth 24 hours a day. You are not a Hindu at all.
It is clearly written in Hindu Dharma that one should stand with the truth. One should not step back from the truth, one should not fear the truth, non-violence is our symbol. You must understand, they are shouting because it has hit the heart, the arrow has hit their heart(the truth has enraged them), that is why they (BJP) are shouting. Look, they have become silent. Look, Speaker Sir, everyone has become silent!
Sir let me speak. This...BJP, Narendra Modi is not the whole Hindu society, BJP is not the whole Hindu society. RSS is not the whole Hindu society. BJP does not have this contract. All these are Hindus here. All these are Hindus.
Sir, if you look at the great men of Hindu religion, leave aside the great men, if you look at Shivaji, then from his image you come to know that Hindus cannot spread fear. Hindus cannot spread violence. Hindus cannot spread hatred and BJP spreads hatred-violence, hatred-violence, hatred-violence 24 hours a day.
Speaker Sir, at which all places have they spread fear? Sir, at which all places have these people spread fear - I will start with Ayodhya. Ayodhya sent you a message, Speaker Sir. But the truth is that in the middle of my speech the mic goes off, what can I do, it happens. Now you saw that I used the word ‘Ayodhya’ and the mic went off... So, the birthplace of Lord Ram in Ayodhya has sent a message to BJP and he is sitting in front of you. I asked him - yesterday we had coffee, I asked him tell me what happened? BJP inaugurated the Ram temple, airport was built in Ayodhya, land was snatched from the people of Ayodhya and till date they have not received compensation.
He said that all the small shopkeepers and small buildings in Ayodhya were demolished and those people were thrown on the road. He also said that the people of Ayodhya were greatly disappointed at the inauguration of Ayodhya because Adani ji and Ambani ji were present at the inauguration, but no one from Ayodhya was there. And this was the reason. The reason was that Narendra Modi ji instilled fear in the hearts of the people of Ayodhya. They took away their land, demolished their houses and then the poor people of Ayodhya, the farmers, the labourers were not even allowed to go to the inauguration of the temple. Leave alone the inauguration of the temple, they were not even allowed to go outside it and hence the people of Ayodhya sent the right message.
Well, he told me one more thing that Narendra Modi tested twice whether he should contest from Ayodhya and the surveyors said that he should not contest from Ayodhya. The people of Ayodhya will have him defeated and hence the Prime Minister went to Varanasi and escaped from there. So, he frightened the people of Ayodhya, he frightened the whole country. Leave aside the people of Ayodhya, he even frightens the BJP people.
Speaker Sir, you said that the debate should be held on the President’s Address. What I have done is, Anurag Thakur ji had talked about Ayodhya. Anurag Thakur ji had talked about the attack on Sanatan Dharma, that is why I have done this. I want to show what happened in Ayodhya, what was the truth of Ayodhya. He had raised the issue in the President’s debate, I concluded it. Fear was spread and the opposition’s response –‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ together. The entire opposition, the whole country together went from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and I got to hear a lot about the fear you spread during the Yatra. I still remember, it was about 7-8 in the morning. We were walking in the Yatra when a woman comes, walks with us, holds my hand and was nervous. So, I asked what happened to which she says that he is beating me. I asked - who is beating you? She says - my husband is beating me. I said - why? She says, I could not give breakfast to him. I said - why? I could not buy it, there is inflation. I could not buy it, could not cook food, that is why I am getting beaten. I said- Sister, what should I do, how can I help you? She says- Don’t do anything, just remember that due to inflation, thousands of women in India are beaten in the morning. These are her words, not mine. Gas cylinder, inflation! So, you have done the work of scaring the poor and the women. Neither be scared nor scare others. You have scared the women of India with inflation every day.
A few days ago, I met the family of an Agniveer in Punjab. They had a small house. An Agniveer was martyred in a landmine blast. I am calling him a martyr, but the Indian government does not call him a martyr. Narendra Modi does not call him a martyr. Narendra Modi calls him an Agniveer. That family will not get pension, that family will not get compensation, they will not get the status of a martyr and the poor people were sitting, there were three sisters, they were sitting together, they were crying. A common soldier will get pension, they will definitely be sad, but the Indian government will help the common soldier, but an Agniveer cannot be called a soldier. Agniveer- use and throw laborer.
You give him 6 months of training. On the other hand, the Chinese soldier gets 5 years of training, you make him stand in front of them with a rifle! You create fear in his heart. You create a rift between one soldier and another that one will get pension, one will get martyr status, the other will not and then you call yourself a patriot. What kind of a patriot are you? That boy looked like a film star, a film star! He had a Bollywood star like personality. I was thinking, look, this youth laid his life!
Speaker Sir, the Agniveers know the truth. We don’t need to speak. What an Agniveer has to face, whether he gets the status of a martyr or not, whether he gets compensation or not, whether he gets pension or not, he knows it all...
I have put the truth of Agniveers on the floor of the House and Rajnath Singh ji has also said that the reality is known to the Indian Army. The Agniveers know it. It does not matter whether they say it or me. They know the truth. They know who is telling the truth.
Speaker Sir, the country’s army knows, the whole country knows that the Agniveer scheme is not the army’s scheme. It is the PMO’s scheme and the entire army knows that the scheme was the brain child of the Prime Minister. The scheme was not the army’s brain child. Just like demonetization was done, in the same arbitrary way... Look, it’s a simple matter Speaker Sir, they like Agniveer, you keep it, we will change it, remove it, it’s a simple matter. Our government will come, we will remove Agniveer. Because we think that Agniveer is against the army, against the soldiers. It is a scheme against patriots. We don’t want this scheme.
For the first time in the history of India, states have been snatched from the people. For the first time, you have snatched states from Jammu-Kashmir, Ladakh. You have plunged Manipur into civil war. You and your plans, your politics have burnt Manipur and till date the Prime Minister of India has not visited Manipur. It seems as if Manipur is not a state of India. Manipur is not a state for the Prime Minister. Civil war is not happening in Manipur and once a statement was given and we raised a question, we went, we told the Prime Minister to give a message, to go to Manipur, protect the people there –but No!
I went there, met both the Kukis and the Meitei. Till date, I have not got an answer, I cannot get one. For them, Manipur is not a state of India. Manipur does not exist, neither for the Home Minister, nor for the Prime Minister. It does not exist. It simply does not exist. They are not there, neither will the Prime Minister go there, he will not say anything. As if nothing happened there. I went to the relief camp. A woman, trembling and crying, tells me that she saw this in front of her eyes... yes, I can talk about women. I can. You do not include women in your organization, but I can talk about women.
She tells me- My child was shot in front of my eyes. I did not want to run away, I wanted to die, I wanted to die with him. They dragged me away from there and then she shows me the photo of her child. She shows me such photos while trembling. This is the result of your plans. You should be ashamed.
One day at 8 o’clock the Prime Minister says - I don’t know, the fine tuning has been done with God, a direct message from God.... Sir has said this, the Prime Minister has said this, I am not saying this. The Prime Minister has said that I have a direct connection with God. I did not say it. These are the words of the Prime Minister, not my words. The Prime Minister has said this, he has told the media in public that I am not biological. I have a direct connection with God. I am not saying this, Prime Minister Modi has said it. So, I don’t know, at that time at 8 o’clock God’s message must have come... Yes, the same thing. But then Shri Ram gave you another message in Ayodhya. God’s message must have come - Modi ji, do demonetization. Demonetization was done. The message came directly from above, the order came –one after the other different orders come. The order of Adani ji comes. Bombay Airport Adani Ji’s order comes from above, back-to-back orders come from above. So, demonetization was done.
Small and medium businesses, which are the backbone of India’s employment, have been blown away. They have been blown away, destroyed. Today the result is that whatever they do, the youth of India cannot get employment. Job creation, backbone is broken, finished. He ruined everything and destroyed it. They did demonetization, implemented the wrong GST and destroyed it. Earlier I used to think that I don’t know how this happened, but now I understand that this was done for people like Adani ji and Ambani ji. This was a way to clear their way. The Income Tax Department is after them, GST, demonetization harass them 24 hours a day. They try to restrict their cash flow, crush their cash flow so that they step aside and billionaires take their place. Ask any small businessman, ask any small-medium business owner, he will tell you.
I went to Gujarat and talked to textile owners. I asked them why demonetization and GST happened. They clearly said GST and demonetization have been done to help billionaires. Narendra Modi works for billionaires. It is a simple matter. I keep going there and this time we will defeat you in Gujarat. You can write it down. The Opposition INDIA Alliance is going to defeat you in Gujarat. We had brought the Land Acquisition Bill to protect farmers’ land and to give them proper compensation which you have abolished. You tried here but could not do it, so you abolished it in the states. You have abolished it in every state, if you do not know, check it. You have abolished it in every state, in every BJP ruled state.
So, we had prepared a land acquisition bill to ensure fair compensation to farmers, but you cancelled it. After that, to scare the farmers, remember, Shivji says – don’t be afraid, don’t scare others. To scare the farmers, you brought the three new laws. The Prime Minister told them that these laws are for your benefit while the truth was that these laws were for the benefit of Adani and Ambani. All the farmers of India stand up. Roads are blocked till date. If you go there, you will see that the road on which the farmers had come is still blocked till date. At two places in Haryana, farmers stand up and say – no, this is not ours. You want to snatch the fruits of our hard work from us, we will not accept this. You don’t talk to them. You don’t talk to them, you don’t hug them, you call them ‘Terrorists’. You say, all of them are ‘Terrorists’. It is not a lie. It is the truth.
700 farmers were martyred. We said in this house that there should be silence for the farmers, you did not allow silence. You said- these are not farmers. According to you these were not farmers, these were terrorists.
What are the farmers demanding, Speaker Sir, Speaker Sir, what did the farmers ask for? The farmers only said that if the debt of 16 lakh crore rupees of billionaires can be waived off, then do a little for us too. The farmers said that the right price is given for every product, give us MSP too and you said that the debt of the farmer will not be waived and MSP will not be given. Speaker sir, MSP with legal guarantee, Speaker sir, the issue is MSP with legal guarantee, not just MSP, MSP is being given. The issue is, Kisans want MSP with legal guarantee, which you are not ready to give them.
So, you created fear among the farmers. Inflation among women, gas cylinders, Agniveer in the army, you people gave some or the other package of fear, gift, present to every person. Let’s talk about students. You talk about 2,000 years ago, talk a little about the future too, talk about India’s future. You have destroyed employment by demonetization, GST, by destroying small and medium businesses. Youths used to get opportunities in the army, you gave Agniveer for them, you destroyed that, blocked their way. You are privatizing the public sector. You have closed that way and now a new fashion has emerged - NEET. You have converted professional exams into commercial exams. Neet is not a professional exam. It is a commercial exam. A student can be a topper in NEET, can be an excellent student, but if he does not have money, he cannot go to medical college, simple thing. The passing marks of NEET is 20-22 percent. The whole exam is made for rich children. You centralized the whole exam in Kota, thousands of crores of rupees are being made and the commercial papers that you have made, commercial exams, the paper got leaked 70 times in 7 years.
There will be no mention of NEET or Agniveer in the Presidential address. These things will not happen and we said, Speaker Sir, we said allow a one-day discussion, we want to stand with you and resolve this. There is an institutional failure, we want to help you, we want to resolve it. The government says no, there will be no discussion, there can be no discussion about the future, so this is the situation. They keep on thinking about how to create fear. They scare the minorities. No, Congress is not afraid of you, you are afraid of Congress. Violence, hatred against minorities, against Muslims, against Sikhs, against Christians and what have the minorities done? They represent India in every sphere, they bring glory to the name. Like mountains, people of India are standing together, they are patriots and you attacked all the minorities, spread violence and hatred against them.
Speaker sir, NEET students spend years and years preparing for their exam. Their families support them financially, emotionally and the truth is, that NEET students today do not believe in the exam because they are convinced that the exam is designed for rich people, not meritorious people. I have met a number of NEET students. Every single one of them tells me that the exam is designed to create a quota for rich people and to create a passage for them into the system and is designed not to help poor students. This happens many times. Students study for months, not knowing whether the exam will be leaked or not. Even if they pass, where will the money come from? So these people have spread fear there too. So wherever they see, they spread fear. In the army, in the youth, in the farmers, in the labourers, in the women, in the disabled as well and I can also say that not only in the rest of India, but there is fear in their own party as well. There is fear, there is fear in your party. This is the truth, look at you. Now you are not shouting, now you are calm, now you are absolutely calm. You have told the truth, you are not shouting, you are quiet. Because your tuning is direct. What is the problem, you cannot even shout, because the connection, no sir I am speaking, I am explaining, about the structure. Sir, in a democracy there should be democracy in the party. Anyone comes to these parties and says anything. 22, 23, 24, 25 all say whatever they want to say, but there is fear in your party. ‘Satyameva Jayate, don’t be afraid, don’t scare others’. Sir, when I became Leader of the Opposition (LoP), I realized something that I had not realized before and it’s also on the lines of the principles of Shiva. So, on those same lines and the idea was that after becoming Leader of the Opposition (LoP) all my personal dreams, my personal aspirations, my personal fears have to be put aside. I am now actually two people. I am not one person. I am a Constitutional person and my job is to be Leader of the Opposition to represent all these parties equally.
In fact, I don’t just represent the Congress Party. I represent every single party and I have to treat every single party with love and affection. So, when Hemant Soren Ji is in jail or Arvind Kejriwal Ji is in jail, it should disturb me, it should hurt me. When you unleash your agencies on these political people, it is our job to defend them because there is a Constitutional person and an individual, and what Shiv Ji is saying is that when you are a Constitutional person, the individual should die, the individual’s aspirations, the individual’s dreams should die and you should become the voice of the people. Meaning that - you should have no fantasies, no dreams, nothing. The perfect public representative is one, who is actually dead - that is what Shiv Jiis saying, you understand. Speaker sir, now, my advice, there are two structures now. One is me as an individual, and one is me as Leader of the Opposition. Me as an individual, I might have my likes and dislikes, I might have my views, but me as Leader of Opposition have to suppress them, have to reduce them and say, now I am the voice of the Opposition. That is the idea of the democratic system. The people have given me a responsibility and that responsibility should overcome my personal likes, dislikes and aspirations.
Now, Speaker sir, why I am saying this and forgive me for saying this, but when you were being put in that chair, I walk there to help you, to work with you, to the chair and I shook hands with the Prime Minister and I shook hands with you and then I walked up to your chair and you are the final arbiter of the Lok Sabha. You are the final watcher, what you say, fundamentally defines Indian democracy. You don’t allow us to speak, you allow them to speak, you don’t allow us to speak, all these things define Indian democracy. Speaker sir, there are actually two people sitting in that chair. There is the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Speaker of the Indian union and there is Mr. Om Birla.
When Modi Ji went and shook your hands and I went to shake your hand, I noticed something. When I shook your hand, you stood straight like this and shook my hand and when Modi Ji shook your hand, you bow down and shook his hand. Now, with all respect sir,
Speaker Sir, I accept your point. Speaker Sir, I respect your point, but I want to tell you that in this House, no one is bigger than the Speaker. The Speaker is the greatest. We all should bow before the Speaker and I will bow before you and the entire opposition will bow before you. This is democracy Speaker Sir. You are the leader of this House. You should not bow before anyone. Speaker is the last word. Speaker is an ‘adhyaksh’ and he is the last word.
In the end, Speaker is the last word in the Lok Sabha and in that spirit, as Members of the Lok Sabha, we are subservient to the speaker. I believe that, now there might be people in this room, who think they are not, but I think the entire Opposition believe that we are subservient to you, sir. And we will listen to what you say and we will bow in front of you, but the only thing I request speaker sir, it is important that there is fairness in this house? Now, I gave a speech speaker sir, and it was interrupted throughout. Now this time is going to be taken away from my colleagues and I think that is unfair.
Finally, I would like to say that the principles, that allowed us to fight are in our traditions; truth, courage, non-violence and they are in all religions and what you have come to represent today, is untruth, a complete lack of courage and violence, and my recommendation to you, if you take it. This country has a government and you are the government, and you are, whether we like it or not,you are the government of India, elected by the people and I agree to that, but I would say to you that as individual members, as the Cabinet, you do not spread fear in this country, that you do not spread hatred in this country, that you listen to the farmers of this country, you listen to the students of this country. When the Opposition says to you, let’s have a debate for one day, have it. It’s not going to harm anybody. They are going to love you for it. The students of India are going to say, we love the government because they allowed us our voice, they let us speak for one day. So, do not spread hatred, do not spread violence, do not be fearful. Even the BJP members here, even the Cabinet members do not be fearful. You have a Constitutional position; you are individual and then you have a Constitutional position. Rajnath Singh Ji is an individual and he is the Defence Minister of India and that is the way this country has to be run. And we, as the Opposition, don’t take us as your enemies. We are not your enemies. We are here, we are sincerely here to make your work easier, as long as you follow the basic principles that we have stated and these principles are Shiv Ji’s principles. They are the principles of Shiv Ji, ‘Har Har Mahadev’, you can say, to make the government… this is basically what I have explained here, today, the concept of Indian Leadership is having faith in all religions; respect, affection, Ahinsa and always standing up for the truth and I am more than happy. All of us are more than happy to discuss anything you want without being nasty, without being aggressive. Anything you want we are ready to discuss.
So, please let us work together to take this country forward. You are the government; we have to accept that. You got 240 seats so I congratulate you on that. At least accept it! Not happy okay! You are not happy so I would say we want to both work for this country, work with the spirit of bravery, work without violence, work without hatred. Thank you!