MP and former Congress President Shri Rahul Gandhi addressed the ‘Hain Taiyaar Hum’ mega rally in Nagpur, Maharashtra on December 28, 2023 Translated from Hindi

All the Congress Executive members sitting on the stage, senior leaders, our dear workers, brothers and sisters, youth of Maharashtra, our friends from the press, a very warm welcome to all of you here, ‘Namaskar’.

I am elated to come to Ambedkar Ji’s ‘Karmabhoomi’ today. It is the foundation day of Congress and today we have come to Nagpur to talk to you and meet you. There is a battle of ideologies going on in the country. People think that it is a political fight, a fight for power, undoubtedly it is there, but the foundation of this fight is of two ideologies and it is a fight between two ideologies. There are many parties - it is there in NDA. It is there in INDIA Alliance - but the fight is between two ideologies. A few days ago, I met a BJP MP in the Lok Sabha. Many BJP MPs were earlier in the Congress Party, this one was also in the Congress Party previously. He met me secretly, saw me from a distance, secretly said with fear Rahul ji, I want to talk to you. I asked him what was there to talk about. I said that you are in BJP and then a little trouble was visible on his face. So, I asked, is everything okay? I thought maybe someone in the house was sick, some accident might have happened, I asked is everything okay? He said, “No”. I asked, “What happened?”Rahul ji, one cannot tolerate being in BJP. I am in BJP, but my heart is in Congress.” So, I said, “Brother, your heart is in Congress, your body is in BJP. This means that your heart is afraid of bringing your body to Congress, is that so? I asked why don’t you feel good there? You are an MP, you are giving me hints, why don’t you feel like being there? He said - Rahul ji, there is slavery in BJP. Whatever instructions come from above have to be executed without thinking. No one listens to us. Orders come from above, meaning just as kings used to give orders, orders come from above and have to be followed. Whether you like it or not, there is no option.” You might remember that our PCC President, Patole ji, had asked a question to the Prime Minister. He had asked a question about the farmers, what was the question (asked Patole ji)? So only one question was asked, the question was, what will be the share of farmers in the GST that you have imposed? Modi ji did not like the question and as a result, Patole ji was out.

So, their ideology is one that of kings. They don’t listen to anyone and orders will come from above, you will have to simply follow the orders. The voice in the Congress Party comes from below. Our smallest of worker can interject any of our leaders. Isn’t that right? Our workers come in front of me and tell me Rahul ji, I did not like what you did and then I explain to them that look, I did this for this reason and I listen to them. I respect and honour his voice. I do also say that brother, I do not agree with you. But I hear his voice. That BJP says, what did the Congress Party do? Before independence, if you came to this country, there were five-six hundred kings, there were British, the kings were saluted, some were given a 19-gun salute, some were given a 21-gun salute, but the people of India had no rights, had absolutely no rights. If the king liked the land of a poor person, he could take it away in a second. All these rights which are protected by the Constitution, which Ambedkar ji, Gandhi ji and Nehru ji created with their blood and sweat - This was given by the Congress Party and the people of RSS and BJP were against it. Today they stand in front of the flag and salute it! But they did not salute the tricolour for years. So, all the rights come from the Constitution and at that time, the king could do whatever he wanted. There were no laws for him. This work has been done by the Congress Party and this has been done for the first time in the history of India, in the history of thousands of years. For the first time, every Indian was given one vote - be it Dalit, tribal, woman, general caste, Tamil, Bengali, from Uttar Pradesh - the Constitution gives the right to one vote to every citizen of India. The Congress Party has made it possible.

Gandhi ji went to jail, Nehru ji went to jail, Ambedkar ji struggled for years. Congress Party and Ambedkar ji together have given this. Our ideology says that the reins of the country should be in the hands of the people of India and the country should not be run the way kings used to run it in the past. We talk about the power of the people. You see all our laws. It was the people of the country who fought for independence and not the kings or emperors. They had a partnership with the British, people tend to forget this. People think that the freedom struggle was only against the British, NO! This fight was not only against the British but also against the kings and emperors. This is the truth. It was a partnership of kings and emperors. It was a partnership of the British. Congress Party fought against it. Whom did it fight for? It fought for the poor people. Had you come here 60-70 years before, before independence, the people of India had no rights, women had no rights. Dalits were not touched. This is the ideology of RSS. We have changed this.

These people are trying to take India back to where it was before independence. Different institutions are formed by the Constitution, by your vote. These are your institutions, be it the Supreme Court, Election Commission, these are your institutions. They are capturing all the institutions. You see all the universities of India - all the Vice Chancellors today belong to one organization. They know nothing! In India of today, Vice Chancellors are not selected on merit, instead, they are selected if they are in the same organization. So, they are capturing all the institutions which protect your voice, through which you run the country.

Look at the media. It was said that media are the guardians of democracy. I ask you - do you think that Indian media is protecting democracy today? (The public said- no) Listen. If you ask them (pointing towards the journalists present), they will tell you that we cannot speak what is in our hearts. What is in their hearts - What is in their hearts is what is in the hearts of the people of India, they cannot even say that. So, all the institutions have been captured, the media is under pressure. There is the pressure of the CBI, look at this, there is the pressure of the ED. So, the fight is about all this.

We want to give the power of the country to the people of the country. We want to convey the power of the country to the people of the country. People say that Congress Party brought about the White Revolution - we helped in the White Revolution - but Anand’s women started the White Revolution.

The White Revolution was brought about by the women power of India. The Green Revolution was done by the farmers of the country. The power of farmers led to the Green Revolution. The IT revolution was done by the youth of the country. The Congress Party helped, the Congress Party gave the vision, but the IT revolution was done by our youth.

Now I want to ask you, how many people has Narendra Modi ji given employment in the last ten years to? Today, unemployment is the highest in 40 years and the power of the youth of India, the power of crores of youth, is being wasted. Nowadays, the youth of India do not work. Today, the youth of India will sometimes look at Instagram and sometimes look at Facebook on their mobile phones for seven-eight hours at a stretch, this is the truth of India and its power is being lost. On one hand there is attack on farmers, attack on youth and on the other hand the entire wealth of the country is being given to two-three billionaires. This is the truth.

Brothers and sisters, listen, a few days ago some youth came to me. They told me - Rahul ji, we were taken into the army before coming of the ‘Agniveer scheme’. 1 lakh 50 thousand youth were accepted by the Indian Army and Air Force. They passed some test again and got acceptance. 1 lakh 50 thousand youth! Modi government implemented ‘Agniveer Yojana’ and did not allow 1 lakh 50 thousand youth to join Army and Air Force. There was a feeling of patriotism, they were crying in front of me. Tears were rolling down, they were saying, the government has ruined our lives, has ended our lives. Everyone is making fun of us. In our villages, we are being referred to as ‘Fake Soldiers’. They didn’t even maintain our dignity. So, they were not even allowed to come in the ‘Agniveer scheme’, they were thrown out and then they (BJP) say that they are patriots. The country is not going to reap any benefit from this and the entire benefit and wealth of the country goes into the hands of selected people.

I asked a question to the BJP people in the Parliament - India is run by 90 people. They are officers of the country. They distribute the entire budget. I asked in Parliament how many of these are OBCs, how many are Dalits and how many are tribals. BJP people became silent. OBCs constitute at least 50 percent of the population, Dalits constitute 15 percent of the population, tribals constitute about 12 percent of the population, but only three out of 90 officers are OBCs. What kind of OBC government is being run? They make them sit in the corner and assign them to insignificant departments. Make a list of India’s biggest companies, 100-200 biggest companies and show me which one of these is OBC, which one is Dalit, which one is tribal. Show it in the state bureaucracy. OBC population is 50 percent, Dalits are 15 percent, tribals are 12 percent and their participation is nowhere. Take out the names of top companies and show me, where are the OBCs sitting in these companies, where are the Dalits sitting, where are the tribals sitting and this is not just me talking about IAS, this is the situation in every field. So, I asked the question, I said see there should be a Caste Census. The country should find out how many OBCs are there in the country. After that, Narendra Modi Ji’s speeches change. Earlier he used to call himself OBC, after my speech, he says that there is only one caste in India, that too of poor. If there is only one caste in India, then how did you become an OBC? So, we have decided that as soon as our government comes to Delhi, we will conduct the Caste Census for you.

Look, I said this in the beginning, this is a fight of ideologies. Crores of people have been pushed back into poverty by the BJP government. The work that we did through the Right to Food, with the help of MNREGA, has been destroyed by these people and we do not want two INDIAs. There is no truth in the dream of an India of billionaires, of media people, of cell phone people. The youth of India cannot live or earn from social media. The youth of India need employment. This work cannot be done by Narendra Modi ji and NDA government. Only India Alliance can do this work, because to do this work, the voice of the people of India will have to be heard. Hatred will have to be eradicated and this country will have to be united and brought forward.

We walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, covering 4000 kilometres. We sell love in the market of hatred. If you want to understand the ideology of Congress, you will understand from this line. Only one line is needed. If you have love in your heart for the people of India, if you want to sell love in the market of hatred, then you are a Congressman!

I want to say one last thing to the Congress Party workers. Look, I want to speak to this Party and the workers of Maharashtra especially to you, because you are special. I walked in Maharashtra, when I was walking in ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, as soon as I came inside Maharashtra, I thought that look, this is the land of Congress, this is the land of Congressmen. In this land, people understand the ideology of Congress without any explanation and if our fight started, it was from Maharashtra. That’s why we have come here to Nagpur to talk to you. So, you are a fierce lion. You don’t have to be afraid of anyone. You are not afraid, you are a brave lion and this is a fight for your ideology, this is a fight for your heart, you and I together are going to win the elections in Maharashtra and in the whole of India. Thank you very much to all of you! Namaskar, Jai Hind!