‘Opposition’s fight rooted in truth, non-violence’: Rahul Gandhi at Hyderabad Bharat Summit

Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, addressed the second edition of the Hyderabad Bharat Summit on Saturday, stating that India's Opposition had overcome its decade-long crisis through love, truth, and non-violence. At the Congress-backed platform, Gandhi asserted that his party would defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi and remove him from power, claiming this outcome was already evident.

He described the political climate as a "done deal," citing the fear surrounding Modi and the Prime Minister, Amrit Shah.

Gandhi began his speech by highlighting the rise of fascism globally, noting that India witnessed a phenomenon never seen before in 2014—a completely new election mode, massive financial injection into the political system, and a sudden reversal of coalitions. He claimed that the Opposition had been in shock due to this crisis for a decade, and India's democracy was destroyed in 2014.

Gandhi alleged that 140 million legitimate voters were declared non-existent or non-voters in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, questioning the legitimacy of such an election. He pointed to an example in Maharashtra where the Congress coalition won the Lok Sabha polls but lost in the subsequent Assembly elections due to the addition of 7 million new voters, all voting for the BJP.

The Congress leader argued that India's economic model had collapsed, leading to a liquidity crisis that devastated the political system. The economic structure that had once served the nation and others worldwide had failed, rendering it ineffective. Gandhi emphasized that this economic collapse facilitated the concentration of wealth and the merging of political and business interests, with businessmen like Adani amassing vast assets while the BJP's wealth grew 11-fold in a decade.

In response to fascism, the Congress party has leveraged its people's connection through the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which uses the vocabulary of love and compassion. Gandhi believed that truth and non-violence proved to be the most potent weapons against fascist forces, as threats, anger, hatred, violence, and fear were ineffective.

He apologized to delegates who were allegedly denied entry to the Bharat Summit by the Indian government, describing the country's divisions as a world divided into those who believe they are divine and the vast majority who remain curious. Gandhi noted that fascists, often loud and disruptive, emerge when systems collapse.