No other party will be able to stand against the BJP; ultimately, only the Congress will defeat it: Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi

Gurugram: Addressing a largely attended public meeting during the “Sadbhav Yatra,” on May 8, 2026, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi said that elections were being “stolen” through the manipulation of institutions.

Shri Rahul Gandhi said, “After Haryana and Maharashtra, the BJP also stole the elections in West Bengal and Assam through similar methods, including deletion of voters’ names and misuse of central agencies and institutions.”

Shri Rahul Gandhi said that this is the truth of India, and you can write it down: Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India, will not survive. Because the public is so angry, you can steal all the elections you want, but ultimately, the public’s truth, the anger within them, you will have to face it and the public decides what will happen in India.

He also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of compromising India’s economic and strategic interests in the recent US-India agreement under pressure from US President Donald Trump. Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi praised Haryana Congress leaders and participants of the march for taking the message of unity and public outreach to the people. Recalling the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, he referred to the slogan “nafrat ke bazar mein mohabbat ki dukan”, which conveyed the message of love and harmony amidst hatred. He said that political yatras help leaders understand the “pulse” of the people and urged young Congress leaders across the country to undertake similar outreach programmes to strengthen their political understanding and public connect.

Shri Rahul Gandhi further said that the Party had “stolen” elections in various states, including Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal. He pointed out how voter lists were manipulated and constitutional institutions, including the Election Commission and the bureaucracy, were functioning under the Centre’s influence. The senior Congress leader asserted that public anger against the BJP government was growing and people have understood that the Narendra Modi government was “selling” national assets to industrialists like Adani and Ambani.

On unemployment, Shri Rahul Gandhi said that joblessness remained the biggest issue facing Haryana and the country. He said that despite educational degrees, youth were unable to secure employment as small and medium industries had weakened.

He said that the government’s economic model favoured large corporates while allowing cheap imports from China to dominate Indian markets. Shri Rahul Gandhi noted that youth were being distracted through social media platforms instead of being provided meaningful employment opportunities.

Targeting the Centre over recent US-India trade deal, Shri Rahul Gandhi said that the agreement disproportionately favoured the United States. He said that India had opened its agriculture sector to American farmers and committed to large-scale imports from the US, which, according to him, would adversely impact Indian farmers, industries and domestic manufacturing. He said that no Prime Minister of India, whether from the BJP or the Congress, would have signed the deal under normal circumstances. He said that Modi signed it under pressure as Trump used the Epstein files to force him into the agreement.

He said that the second reason for Modi to sign the deal was the case against Gautam Adani in the US, which was actually aimed at targeting the BJP and Modi, as the financial interests of the BJP and Adani are closely intertwined.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi said that India’s energy security had been compromised by conditions linked to oil imports and also accused the government of compromising citizens’ data privacy. Shri Gandhi asserted that the agreement had yielded “nothing” for India while increasing the country’s economic vulnerability.

He also recalled how he was prevented from speaking freely in Parliament on issues related to the US deal and Adani. When I was going to talk about Adani, Narendra Modi got up and ran away from the Parliament House. He claimed that references to the Epstein Files during his Lok Sabha speech led to disruptions and curbs on his remarks.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said that the BJP government was using central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate, the CBI and the Income Tax Department against political opponents, but asserted that the Congress Party would not be intimidated.

Calling the ideological battle in India one between the RSS and the Congress, Shri Rahul Gandhi said that the BJP represented “hatred and division” while the Congress stood for “love and unity”. He asserted that, in the long run, the Congress Party alone would be capable of taking on the BJP politically and would ultimately defeat it. He said that no other political party would be able to stand firmly against the BJP and only the Congress had the strength and ideology to ultimately defeat it.

Among those present were Congress In-Charge Shri B.K Hariprasad, former Chief Minister Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, PCC President Shri Rao Narender, AICC General Secretary Shri Randeep Singh Surjewala, former union minister Shri Birender Singh, former MP Brijendra Singh, former PCC president Shri Uday Bhan, large numbers congress workers and others.