BJP will disappear from Telangana after Assembly polls, Rahul tells NRIs

Hyderabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that the party will defeat the hate-filled ideology of the BJP and decimate it in the Assembly polls in Telangana and other states. “It will be hard to find the BJP in Telangana after this election,” he said.

“They tried everything in the book. They have the media with them. They had ten times the amount of money we had. They had the government, they had the agency. But we just did not defeat them. We smashed them in Karnataka,” Rahul Gandhi said at a dinner hosted by the Indian Overseas Congress-USA in New York.

“We are going to decimate them in Telangana next. It will be hard to find the BJP in Telangana after the elections. The people of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh will do the same,” he said.

“That is what is going to happen in the next few states. And then after that in 2024 we will do the same. The Opposition is united, we are all working together. It is an ideological battle. On one side, there is a divisive ideology of the BJP, the hate-filled ideology of the BJP. On the other side, there is the affectionate, loving ideology of the Congress party,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi had earlier visited Washington and San Francisco before coming to New York. He will address a community rally at the Javits Centre in Manhattan on Sunday. Congress supporters, officials, party members and members of the diaspora gathered in large numbers at the community event that was attended by New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

“People think it’s difficult to fight the BJP in India. It’s not difficult at all. Believe me it’s not a difficult fight. The BJP tried to polarise the election.”

He said in Karnataka, the BJP tried to polarise the election and create anger and hatred between communities. “Prime Minister himself tried it. Did it work?” Gandhi asked the audience and they replied, “No”.

“Karnataka people told us that the election is about prices, unemployment and BJP’s corruption, he added.

Amid loud cheers and applause he said, “India is a bouquet of flowers. BJP has a very limited view of our country. I don’t understand why they are so hateful and angry. They are unable to see the beauty of the world and in other people and don’t respect other people's views.”

“I had said during the Bharat Jodo Yatra that ‘nafrat ki bazaar me mohabbat ki dukaan kholege (In this market of hate, we will open a store of love)’. Wherever they are spreading hatred open a ‘mohabbat ki dukaan’, he added to loud applause.