“There is an atmosphere of fear in the country. Fear has pervaded every aspect of our country. My friends are smiling but they are also scared. Sir, you see the problem in the BJP only one man is allowed to dream of being Prime Minister.If the defence minister decides he wants to be Prime Minister, there is a big problem — there is fear. So, this fear has been spread throughout the country. The question I was asking myself was: Why is this fear spreading so deeply? Why is it that my friends in the BJP are terrified, the ministers are terrified, the farmers of India are terrified, and workers and youngsters are terrified,” Rahul Gandhi said in Lok Sabha participating in the debate on Union Budget.
The Congress leader then went on to use the metaphor of Chakravyuh to describe the atmosphere of fear, which he claimed, was all pervading in the country. “The ‘chakravyuh’ that has captured India has three forces — the idea of monopoly capital and concentration of financial power; institutions and agencies such as the CBI, ED and IT department; and the political executive,” Rahul said and added “these three together are at the heart of the ‘chakravyuh’ and have devastated this country.”
This is not the first time that Rahul Gandhi has taken digs at senior BJP leaders suggesting that they are scared of Prime Minister Modi. In his first speech in Lok Sabha as leader of the opposition, Rahul had targeted Rajnath Singh, who was seated next to the Prime Minister and also Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
“Today morning When Rajnath Singh met me outside Parliament, he smiled and greeted me. But now he will not even smile nor greet because he is scared that Prime Minister Modi will take note of it. The story is same for Gadkariji,” Rahul had said drawing huge protests from the treasury benches.
In fact, the theme of Rahul’s entire speech during “Motion of thanks to President’s address” was “daro mat, darao mat (Don’t be scared and don’t scare)”. He had then accused the BJP-led NDA government of spreading fear in the country.
(With inputs from agencies)