Gandhi will be speaking on May 23, holding a conversation with Dr Shruti Kapila of Corpus Christi College….reports Asian Lite News
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday flew to the UK to attend a Cambridge University programme where he will be speaking “India@75”, the challenges and way ahead for a resilient-modern India.
Gandhi will be speaking on May 23, holding a conversation with Dr Shruti Kapila of Corpus Christi College.
Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala, in a tweet, said that Gandhi will address and interact at Cambridge University on “India at 75”, and also speak on “Ideas for India” Conference at London and “interact with Indian diaspora on what the present and future holds”.
Gandhi participated from in the party’s three-day “Chintan Shivir” where the Congress derived a strategy to take on the BJP and decided to hit on streets from June 15, and begin a major programme, the Bharat Jodo Yatra, from Kaniyakumari, on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Recently, Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that the regional parties can’t fight the BJP politically as they don’t have an ideology has upset several opposition parties.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, CPI(M), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal (Secular) have questioned Rahul Gandhi’s comment that only the Congress has the ideology “to take on the BJP”.
Rahul in his address at Congress’ ‘Chintan Shivir’ in Udaipur on Sunday had claimed that regional parties cannot fight the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as they lack ideology, adding that only the Congress can fight the BJP.
Reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s statement, RJD spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha said, “I find it a bit strange and contradictory.”
“If he (Rahul Gandhi) looks at the figures, he will withdraw his statement. The Congress manifesto says that the party is committed to establish dialogue with like-minded parties to protect the spirit of nationalism and democracy,” Jha added.
The RJD spokesperson said that had Rahul Gandhi known about the outcome of the electoral battle against the BJP, he would have realised the ideological and electoral commitment made by the regional parties, which the Congress leader claimed did not have the potential to fight the BJP.
On the other hand, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said at a party convention in Kochi, “Compared to the past, today the Congress has become weaker and many in the BJP and RSS do not see the Congress as a big threat because its leaders can leave the party to join the BJP at any point of time.”
