The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Constitutional bodies not PM’S property, says Rahul
AS HUNDREDS of men and women lined up along the road at Padinjarathara, 20 km from the Wayanad district headquarters around 4 pm, an announcement filled the air, highlighting the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s legacy and “the sacrifices of his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi for the unity of the country.”
Many Muslim women have also joined the crowd with their children. From the buses, passengers disembarked and blended into the throng as it swelled until 5 pm when Rahul arrived. He is an hour late for the day’s last roadshow in the constituency.
From his car with a sunroof, Rahul waves at the crowd that has filled up the road.
As was earlier witnessed in one of his rallies, there were no flags of either Congress or its allies, especially of the Indian Union Muslim League. Instead, the people were holding placards with Rahul’s picture and the party symbol.
The election posters read: “For India, vote for Rahul”. The
Congress’s sitting MP will take on senior CPI leader Annie Raja and BJP’S state president K Surendran in the Wayanad contest.
When he approaches the end of his roadshow, Rahul addresses thegathering.heenumeratedthe choices before the people for the Loksabhaelections.“thiselection isafightbetweenthosewhowant to protect the Constitution and those who want to destroy the Constitution. It is a fight between two ideologies,” he said.
“On one hand, there is the idea of one leader, one language and one nation and on the other, there is the idea of India,” he underlined. “The idea of one language is an insult to every Keralite. Malayalam is not merely a language, it is a culture and way of life,” he said amid massive cheering from the crowd.
“Any Indian who says one nation, one language and one culture does not understand India. To impose one leader, one language itself is an insult to the nation. Why should Kerala be ruled from Nagpur. Who are they? Kerala should be ruled from here, from the streets and villages of the state. The Constitutional institutions are not personal property of the PM. They are the properties of every Indian citizen. Everyday, you hear some BJP MP saying that they would change the Constitution... the Congress will not allow RSS to change the Constitution,” he said.
Rahul then struck a chord with the local issues. “The issue of man-animal conflict is a huge problem for Wayanad. The night traffic ban is also causing distress. I have written several times to the state and the central governments. We are going to come to power in Delhi and Kerala, and solve these issues,” he assured. On the first day of his 2-day campaigning in the seat spread over 3 districts, Rahul held 5 roadshows Monday.