DALLAS: Criticising the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, Congress MP and Leader of Opposition (LOP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, said that his role as the opposition leader is to inject the value of love, respect and humility in Indian politics.
He was speaking at an Indian diaspora event organised in Dallas, Texas, United States. The ex-Wayanad MP Gandhi said that even though he understands that his responsibility is to hold the government accountable at all times, opposing the government in parliament and not letting them run a “dictatorship,” but his actual role is “broader” and “simpler” than that.
“I’d like to tell you that I believe my role is injecting the values of love, respect and humility in Indian politics. I think what is missing in our political system and across parties is love, respect and humility,” Gandhi told the Indian diaspora members in Dallas.
#WATCH | Texas, USA: Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi says, “The RSS believes that India is one idea and we believe that India is a multiplicity of ideas. We believe that everybody should be allowed to participate, allowed to dream, and should be given space regardless… pic.twitter.com/uHULrGwa6X
— ANI (@ANI) September 9, 2024
On Sunday, Gandhi made his first visit to the US as the LoP, as he also interacted with students of the University of Texas and is also scheduled to meet with US lawmakers. His last trip to the US was May 30, 2023, when he interacted with the Indian diaspora and others.
Gandhi’s visit is crucial as it comes months ahead of the US presidential elections, where Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is pitted against her Republican rival and former President Donald Trump. His visit will wrap up ahead of crucial Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, and Maharashtra.
The Congress chief has assumed the constitutional post of LoP for the first time in his political career after the Congress won 99 out of 543 seats in the 18th Lok Sabha elections that concluded on June 4. While addressing the diaspora members, Gandhi laid out what his achievements would be in the next five years.
“If you were to ask me, five years from now, do you consider yourself successful? I would look at these three things. I would say, Have I helped bring the idea of love into the forefront of Indian politics? Have I helped make politicians and others and myself in particular, more humble? Have I increased the respect that people have, that Indian people have with each other. Those would be the values that I would be thinking about”, Gandhi further added. (ANI)