An era of intolerance: Rahul Gandhi

Bengaluru: If anyone can rise and fight the 'strangulation of information' unleashed across the country by the RSS and PM Narendra Modi in particular, it is the intellectual class, reminded Congress vice-president, Rahul Gandhi on Friday.  

Speaking at the launch of a three-day international conference on Dr B.R. Ambedkar titled 'Quest for Equity' here, Mr Gandhi observed "Truth and Power are not the same thing. Truth is what stands up to power." Citing some of the most influential leaders and change makers in the world including Gandhiji, Martin Luther King and Babasaheb Ambedkar, he pointed to the fact that what they all had in common was the ability and courage to speak the truth to power. 

 "Today, there is no doubt that the emperor is completely naked but there is no one with any courage to point it out", said Mr. Gandhi talking about the systemic oppression of the most important institutions in the country and the blatant subversion of democracy to serve the purposes of a few.

Rahul attacks PM Modi 
He said that when the British came to India, "people  handed over freedom to them, it was never taken away from us."

"This could very well happen now. Both the RSS and Mr Modi want to create a country where people  live in utmost fear surrendering their voice so that they can rule unhindered," he warned. "Mr Modi after locking his cabinet colleagues in a room, announced demonetization, which wiped off thousands of jobs. Many media houses depicting this as a work of genius even while admitting in private that it was an act of insanity. Most of them have lost their voice," he quipped. Mr. Gandhi drew parallels between Hitler's assertion that reality was best understood so that it could be strangulated with what he called a dangerous, new global epidemic that sought to distort the truth. Remembering Rohit Vemula, Mohammad Aqlakh and the many farmer suicides in the country, Mr. Gandhi sought to show a mirror to the current narrative of Indian past glory that was unblemished, countering it with the fact that every country including India would always have its strengths but also its flaws, in India's case casteism and untouchability. 

He warned that the aim of the current government and the RSS was to mutilate the Constitution given to us by Babasaheb Ambedkar and the need for more dialogue and discourse like the one that the Conference promises to encourage. He exhorted the nation to do what Dr. Ambedkar had made famous - Educate, Organize, Agitate.