Amethi/Rae Bareli: True nationalism is love for the people and the country which means respect and the BJP’s narrative is devoid of it, according to Congress general secretary Priyanka Vadra Gandhi, who is stepping up her attack on the saffron party for failing to address real issues.
In an exclusive interview to this agency, Priyanka also said there is growing ‘public anger and pain’ for which the people of India will give a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the votes for the Lok Sabha polls will be counted, May 23.
In an attack on Modi, the Congress leader said if the voice of the people is drowned by the voice of one leader, there are going to be consequences.
“Nationalism means solving the problems of the people of the country. The greatest patriotism of any politician, of any government, would be to be able to hear the people when they speak, would be to be democratic, to be able to strengthen the institutions that strengthen the public voice, not weaken it,” pointed out Priyanka.
“I believe true nationalism is love of the people and love for the country, which means respect and I do not see respect for the people in anything they (BJP) are doing,” Priyanka added.
Priyanka, who has been vigorously campaigning in Rae Bareli and Amethi for her mother Sonia Gandhi and brother Rahul Gandhi, respectively, said the Modi government’s policies have led to large scale public anger and pain among people.
“I think the people will give the message to him (PM) because I think wherever I go, I see a lot of public anger, pain, which has not been addressed,” the Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh said.
“Any leader whether it is him (Modi) or anyone else, if public pain is not addressed, if the voice of the people is drowned by the voice of one leader or by the kind of ideology they have, they will have to suffer the consequences. So I think the people are very clear,” added Priyanka.
She said the ongoing Lok Sabha elections are very crucial as the Congress is fighting to protect the idea of India and the contest is between ideologies.
“It is an election in which we are fighting for the India that we all love, for democracy, and for all those values of democracy that we hold dear because institutions are being destroyed by this government,” informed Priyanka.
Asked whether she is dejected at not getting the chance to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Varanasi against Modi, Priyanka said she ‘feared no one’ and went by the direction of the party.
Asked what the ongoing elections meant for her personally, considering she and her family have been targeted by the BJP, the Congress leader stated ‘this is part of BJP’s politics’ and she is not unduly bothered about it.
“They have targeted every person who has spoken against them whether it is a school teacher in Uttar Pradesh or an opposition leader in New Delhi. This is the methodology of their politics and it is the methodology of an undemocratic mindset,” alleged Priyanka.