The Bharat Jodo Yatra, launched on September 7 at Kanyakumari, completed 30 days on October 7, 2022, having covered a distance of more than 700 km across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Former Party President Shri Rahul Gandhi, who has been at the yatra’s centre stage, addressed a press conference at Turuvekere, Karnataka, to share his views and experiences so far. On Congress Party in Karnataka.

Shri Rahul Gandhi said that I am trying to think about your statement that Karnataka is like an oxygen cylinder. I think this is a little demeaning to the people of Karnataka, I don’t like this statement. As far as our party is concerned, we are not a fascist party. We are a party that believes in conversation. We are a party that believes in discussion and we are perfectly happy to have different viewpoints in the party. However, everybody in the party understands that in order to win the election, they have to work together, they have to work as a team and that is exactly what is happening, and that is exactly what is going to happen.

On Union of States - Federal Structure and Regional Aspirations & BJP Approach

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- I don’t just think it is a political counter. I think it is a nature of the Indian Union. If you recall my speeches in Parliament; I quoted the Constitution, where I clearly said that the Constitution states that India, ‘Bharat’ is a union of states. That means that all our languages, all our states, all our traditions have an equally important space in this Union. So, I don’t just view that as a political counter. I view that as the nature of our country.

On Banning of PFI

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- My view is, and I have been saying it in speech, after speech, after speech that it does not matter who the person spreading hatred in India is. It does not matter which community they come from. Spreading hatred and violence in India is an anti-national act and we will fight anybody who spreads hatred and violence in this country. You are so lucky that this is a Congress’ press conference because all this, you know ‘I want a question, I want a question’, this is not allowed in BJP’s press conference. There will be only one guy, he will be asking all the questions. That’s it.

Shri Jairam Ramesh said that BJP leaders do not even hold press conferences.

Shri Rahul Gandhi said, “No, leaders do not do it, but someone does it for them.” (On journalists competing to ask questions)

On Presidential Elections and Candidates to be remote-controlled by Gandhis

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- Well, first of all there is an election taking place. So, I don’t want to give my opinion on this election. Second, both the people who are standing have a position; have a perspective and are people of stature and people of understanding. So, I don’t think either of them is going to be remote-controlled. I think, frankly this tone is insulting to both of them.

On Partition of India

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- Look, last I recall that it was leaders of the Congress Party who fought the British, who spent years in jail. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, all these people, they gave their lives fighting the British. In my study of history, in my understanding- the RSS was helping the British. In my understanding, Savarkar used to get a stipend from the British and these are historical facts and these are not facts that the BJP can hide, right? The Party that fought for independence and created a mass movement for independence, the Party that helped bring the Constitution, the Party that brought the Green Revolution, that’s the Congress Party and it is interesting that the BJP comes out with these comments. But, if you look at the historical truth, the BJP was nowhere to be found in the Freedom Struggle and the BJP is singularly dividing the nation and spreading hatred in this nation.

Spreading hatred, dividing the nation are not things that help the nation, that is why we are doing the Bharat Jodo Yatra, I would like to also say it to you that it is not just me doing the Bharat Jodo Yatra, there are now lakhs and lakhs and lakhs of people who are doing the Bharat Jodo Yatra. So, this is not just the expression of the Congress Party, this is the expression of the people of India and the people of India are tired of the type of politics that is being done. They are tired of the price rise. They are tired of unemployment and they are tired of the immense wealth that a few people are gaining.

On Alignment with JDS

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- These are the questions that are better answered by PCC President and CLP leader and the Congress Party as a whole in Karnataka. However, I am pretty certain that Congress Party is going to win the election hands down, but I think this question you can ask to the two of them. In my experience over the last few days and I have spoken to many-many people, spoken to farmers, spoken to labourers, spoken to small business owners, what I am hearing from them is that they are tired of the level of corruption, 40% commission that this government is charging on everything. They are disturbed by the price rise and they are struggling with the levels of unemployment that Karnataka is facing. It is on these three points that I am basing my early observation, that the Congress Party is going to win the election hands down.

On ‘New Education Policy’

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- We are opposing the New Education Policy because it is an attack on the ethos of our country. It distorts our history, our culture. We are opposing it because it concentrates power in the hands of a few people and centralizes the education system. We want a decentralized education system. We want an education system that reflects our history and our tradition and our languages.

On ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ Raising three Fundamental Issues

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- Objective as I have stated again and again is to bring India together. Objective from my perspective is not the 2024 elections. I am seeing that India is being divided, violence is being spread in our society and this is damaging for our country. ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is aimed at raising three fundamental issues that are interconnected. The first issue is, the violence, the hatred, that the BJP and the RSS are spreading, the division of the country that they are carrying out.

The second issue is the massive concentration of wealth that they are enforcing, allowing to happen. This is resulting in a few people, getting very, very rich and the destruction of the backbone of India’s economy- small and medium businesses and farmers and that are in turn resulting in a collapse in employment. So, India is heading towards an unemployment disaster.

The third reason is the massive increase and continued unrelenting increase in prices. This is why we are doing the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.

On BJP-RSS Misusing Indian Institutions

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- Well, as we know, the BJP uses and the RSS uses India’s institutions to attack India’s political class. This is a tactic that they have been using and this is how they topple governments, pressurize politicians and every single person understands this and knows this in detail.

On ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- Well, the thing to understand is I stand, and have always stood, for certain ideas and that, of course, disturbs the BJP, disturbs the RSS and disturbs the other forces. Thousands of crores of media money, of media energy has been spent in trying to shape me in a way which is just untruthful and wrong. That machine is going to continue and that machine is very well oiled, very financially rich machine. My truth is different. It has always been different and the people, who care to look carefully, will see what I stand for and what my truth is. For me, this ‘Yatra’, of course, there is a political element to it. There are many Congress people there, there are many political people there but, for me, the main purpose of this yatra, I see in the political system, a distance and I don’t just say it, I see it across the board; I see a distance that has developed between the political class and our citizens. The idea for me was to go right on the road and go close physically to our people. Now, this is very different than going in a car or going in a plane, or even reaching out like this, through the media. First reason is, there is no effort here, this is easy. I can sit here, I can have my water, I can be comfortable and I can speak. In a car, to get in the car, somebody else drives, I arrive there, etc. That is what most of the political class has got accustomed to.

I am, by nature, I believe in ‘Tapasya’, that is my nature, that has always been my family’s nature and so I wanted an element in this communication with people, I want an element of suffering for myself. I didn’t want it to be easy and so I thought okay, what would be something that would make me suffer. So that while I am talking to my people, I can share in their suffering a little bit. That was the idea. So, I find that to be a very powerful experience. When you are walking on the road and you are speaking to your people, after having suffered little bit, not much, not as much as many of them do, the communication is better. Communication meaning, they speak more clearly because they say, ‘Look he’s walking on the road.’ And you listen more clearly because you understand much better the discussion.

For me, it has been a learning experience. Frankly it hasn’t even begun yet, to be honest with you, 31 days, it is nothing. For me, it is 31 days, so it is not really bigger. But I can see already the advantages of this type of communication. Also, I can see the thing that is most beautiful and powerful for me and I don’t mean this with disrespect, but there is quite a lot of dishonesty in this. There is a lot of dishonesty in this, when I am speaking in those cameras, there are behind those cameras there are interests. They will distort what I am saying, automatically, even when you don’t want to do it, they will do it. That is a much more truthful conversation, cannot be distorted. So, that is I am finding that quite beautiful experience also the thing I am realizing which I always believe, what is becoming crystal clear to me. Two things, one is, there is tremendous wisdom in our people, huge wisdom, that is wasted by the type of politics, by the type of system that we are running. There is also tremendous suffering in our people because they are unable, because of the system, the political system, political machine that is being run in India, they are unable to do what they need to do to actually become successful. So, these are things I am finding. I am also finding huge amount of support. Not just support to me, and not, I don’t mean it by numbers, so you will only see support from numbers, you will say, look, you will ask the question, here a hundred people are walking, or a thousand people are walking, or ten thousand people are walking. That is not a question I am asking, I am getting support from individuals that is much more powerful than 500-1,000 people, what they are saying to me, how they are transmitting it to me, how they are telling me their stories, that to me is a huge amount of support.

On Media’s Prerogative being Disruptive for the Congress Party

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- I know you are interested in disturbing and disrupting the process of the Congress Party, I know that and that is your prerogative, that’s what makes news, but we have a formidable team in Karnataka. We have leaders who are complementary, who are brilliant leaders and once we win the election, the decision on who is going to be Chief Minister is going to be taken through a process that is carried out in the Congress Party.

On Various challenges facing India

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- No, not at all. The main issue is what the people of India are feeling. Number one, and this is every single youngster I have come across, I asked them. Simple question I asked them- what are you doing? Most of them studying, university, college, school and then I asked them a second question- do you think that you are going to get a job after you graduate. 90 per cent of them said to me- no, we are not going to get a job. That is issue number one.

Issue number two, if you speak to farmers, workers, even middle-class people, they will tell you about prices. They will say- prices that are sky rocketing. These are two issues that are on the top of the mind, in the Indian mind today, so officially we have to focus on this issue.

However, there is also a connected issue, which you have raised, which is a fundamental issue, which is why is it that the Chinese army is sitting today inside Indian territory? They have occupied more than a thousand square kilometres, about slightly smaller area than Delhi, that is not a small area and the government refuses to do anything about it. The government refuses the discussion; They have refused the discussion in Parliament. They are scared of a discussion in parliament. Prime Minister has stated that no land has been taken. Now, please think about it, if you are a Chinese person negotiating with Indian people and the Indian Prime Minister has said- no land has been taken. What is the message that the Chinese person is taking? Message is that the Prime Minister of India is saying that this is our land. So, by a statement, Prime Minister himself has destroyed India’s negotiation position. These are facts. They are not going away and we will continue to raise them, but those are the two issues that are at the top of mind of the people and those are very important issues as well.

On Adani’s Investment in Rajasthan

Shri Rahul Gandhi said- Mr. Adani has committed Rs. 60,000 crores to Rajasthan. No Chief Minister can refuse such an offer. In fact, it would not be correct for a Chief Minister to refuse such an offer. My contention is in the use of political power to help certain chosen businesses. My opposition is to 2 or 3 or 4 large businesses being helped politically to monopolize every single business in this country. That is where my opposition is. I am in no way against the corporates, I am no way against business, but I am against the complete monopolization of Indian business because that weakens the country and today what we are seeing what is being done by the BJP government is complete monopolization of all businesses by helping a chosen few business people. That’s my problem.

Finally, the Rajasthan government has not used political power to help Mr. Adani in Rajasthan. The day they do that, I will be standing in opposition.

Extracts of the Press Conference