Not inviting Kharge to G20 dinner means not giving importance to opposition leader: Rahul Gandhi

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday hit out at the government for not inviting Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to the G20 dinner, saying it is proof that the government is ignoring the opposition, which represents 60 percent of the country’s population. Doesn’t give importance to the leader. Speaking to reporters here, he also claimed that there is a fight in India between the vision of Mahatma Gandhi and the vision of Nathuram Godse and the opposition parties will ensure that the attack on democratic institutions and freedom stops. Rahul Gandhi is on a tour of Europe these days. On Kharge not being invited for the G20 dinner, Rahul Gandhi said, “What is wrong in this?”

They (government) have decided not to invite the leader of the opposition. This tells you something. This tells you that they do not give importance to the leader of the opposition who represents 60 percent of India’s population. This is something people should think about. Why do they feel the need to do this and what is the thinking behind it?’ Rahul Gandhi said on the controversy related to ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’, ‘The name of the country in the Constitution is ‘India’, which is Bharat. ‘…I’m completely happy with him. I think this (talk of changing the name) has been done in panic, an attempt was made to divert attention. We have named our alliance ‘India’… This upset the Prime Minister that he wanted to change the name of the country.

He alleged, “When we take the name of Adani or friendly capitalists, the Prime Minister comes up with a trick to divert attention. When I held a press conference on the Adani issue, a whole episode of distraction happened. Asked about his conversation with EU MPs on Thursday, he said, “About India and what is happening here. There has been an exchange of views…with the MPs we talked about the relations between India and Europe…it was a very meaningful conversation.” He also said that there was discussion on the economic challenges facing India and democratic institutions. There was also talk about the attack. The Congress leader also said in response to a question, “It is our responsibility to fight for democracy in India, we will fulfill this responsibility.” We will ensure that the attack on our institutions and freedom stops.”

On the question related to Kashmir, the former Congress President said, “Kashmir is an integral part of India. There is no other meaning here except India. We have passed a resolution in the Working Committee…When we are talking about the security of democratic institutions, we talk about all parts of the country including Kashmir.” He claimed, ”BJP believes that Power should be centralized, wealth should be concentrated and dialogue among the people of India should be suppressed. On the question related to the stand of the Indian government on the Russia-Ukraine war, he said, “I think The opposition would overall agree with India’s current stance on this conflict (between Russia and Ukraine). We have a relationship with Russia. I do not think that the opposition will have any different stance from the stance the government is currently taking.

Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.