PM Modi driving Indian car looking into rearview mirror and it’s crashing, Rahul Gandhi tells Indian diaspora in New York

He attacked the BJP-led Centre over the Odisha train accident and accused them of being incapable of looking at the future.

Rahul Gandhi addresses Indian diaspora at an event in New York, USA on June 4, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to drive the Indian car by only looking in the rear-view mirror and doesn’t understand why the car is crashing and not moving forward, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in New York on June 4.

Wrapping up his three-city tour of the United States, Mr. Gandhi addressed a large gathering of the Indian diaspora at the Javits Centre, organised by the Indian Overseas Congress-USA. Mr. Gandhi said that the BJP and RSS are “incapable” of looking at the future.

“Back home we have a problem, and I will tell you the problem. BJP and the RSS are incapable of looking at the future. They’re incapable. Unse aap kuch bhi poocho, woh peeche ki aur dekhte hain [Ask them anything and they will look into the past],” the Congress leader said.

Without directly referring to the recent Odisha train accident, he claimed that if you ask the BJP why a train accident happened, they will say, “Look the Congress party did such a thing 50 years ago”. He added that when a train accident happened while his party was in power, it didn’t blame the British for the train crash. “No. The Congress Minister, I remember, said it is my responsibility that the train has crashed. I am resigning,” he said.

If a question is posed to the BJP as to why the periodic table was removed from the textbooks, they will refer to what the Congress party did 60 years ago. “Their immediate response is to look back,” he said.

“That is the phenomenon of Narendra Modiji. He is trying to drive the Indian car and he only looks in the rear-view mirror. And he does not understand why this car is crashing, not moving forward. And it is the same idea with the BJP, with the RSS, all of them,” added Mr. Gandhi.

He emphasised that India is witnessing a fight between two ideologies, one that has Mahatma Gandhi as its inspiration and the other side is represented by Nathuram Godse.

“Gandhijiwas forward-looking, modern, open-minded. Godse only spoke of the past. He never spoke of the future, only spoke of the past. He was angry, hateful and frankly, he was scared at the heart, he was a coward and he was unable to deal with his life,” Mr. Gandhi said.

The Congress leader said that Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar were all non-resident Indians (NRIs) who led the freedom movement in India and the Congress has imbibed the values that these stalwarts fought for.

Targeting the Modi government for what he called as “an attack on the democratic structure”, Mr. Gandhi said, “Full-scale attack on our institutions, on our judiciary, on our media, and it is your responsibility and our responsibility to defend the idea of India. The central piece of the idea of India is our Constitution and our democracy. Modern India cannot exist without our Constitution and without our democracy.”