Rahul clarifies on Shakti remark at Mumbai meet

NEW DELHI: Under attack for his “fight against shakti “remark made at a rally in Mumbai, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday clarified that he was not talking about any religious power but the ‘shakti’ of unrighteousness, corruption and falsehood.

He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of twisting his words and said he was speaking about the power of which Modi was wearing the mask. “Modi ji does not like my words, he always tries to change their meaning by twisting them in some way or the other because he knows that I have spoken a solemn truth.

“The ‘shakti’ (power) that I mentioned, Modi ji is the mask of that power and we are fighting against it. It is such a power that today it has captured India’s voice, India’s institutions, the CBI, I-T, ED, Election Commission, the media, Indian industry and the entire constitutional structure of India in its clutches, “he said in post in Hindi on X.

Using the same ‘shakti’ (power), he alleged, Prime Minister Narendra Modi waives loans worth thousands of crores of Indian banks, while an Indian farmer commits suicide is unable to repay a loan of a few thousand rupees.

“The same ‘shakti’ (power) is given India’s ports, India’s airports, while India’s youth is given the gift of ‘Agniveer’ that breaks their courage. While saluting the same power day and night, the country’s media suppresses the truth.

“Narendra Modi ji, who is a slave of the same power, imposes GST on the poor of the country without controlling inflation and auctions the country’s wealth to increase the strength of that power.

“I recognise that power and so does Narendra Modi ji. It is not any kind of religious power, it is the power of unrighteousness, corruption and falsehood. That’s why whenever I raise my voice against it, Modi ji and his machine of lies gets upset and enraged,” Gandhi said.

Hitting back at Modi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the prime minister is just a “master” of diverting public attention.