There should be zero tolerance towards any form of communalism, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday, while responding to the nation- wide raids by the NIA on offices of the Popular front of India and the arrest of its leaders.
Addressing a press conference in Kochi during the Kerala leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Mr.Gandhi said Opposition parties should come together to fight the ideology as well as the financial and the institutional power of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He said it was important for the country to fight these forces.
On organisational elections
Mr. Gandhi parried questions about the impending organisational elections of the Congress and whether he would contest the election to the post of party president.
However, he had a word of advice to the person who would be the president of the party. “You are taking a post which is a historical one. The post comes with a defined and particular view. It comes with a definite ideology and a belief system,” he said.
Asked about reports that Shashi Tharoor MP was likely to be in the race, Mr. Gandhi said any Congress worker was free to contest to the post.
Also read: KPCC keen to avoid Gehlot-Tharoor contest for Congress president
Distracting questions
Mr. Gandhi said he was of the view that the questions raised on issues other than the Bharat Jodo Yatra were aimed at diverting the attention from the ideals of the yathra he had undertaken.
“I am not going to be distracted by any other issues,” he asserted.
It is a matter of extreme pride that the media is keen on the organisational elections of the Congress. No one has raised such questions about the organisational elections of BJP, RSS, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party or the communists, he said.
LDF Government
When asked about his views on the LDF Government in Kerala, Mr. Gandhi said the Congress leaders of the State were in a better position to comment on the functioning of the government.
“I have a view on the Left front Government. But leaders of party in the State will comment on that,” said Mr. Gandhi.
Mr. Gandhi said a large number of LDF workers had come forward to greet the Yatra and shook hands with him. Many LDF leaders were at heart in complete accordance with the ideals of the Yatra, he said.
