Wayanad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no right to ask 1.3 billion Indians to prove their citizenship.
“Who is Modi to decide my citizenship? Who has given him the license to decide who is Indian and who is not?” Rahul asked while addressing a public meeting in his Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala on Thursday.
“I know I am an Indian and I don't have to prove it to anyone,” he said.
Prior to the address, he led thousands of people in a 2km 'Save the Constitution March' from SKMJ High School to New Bus Stand at Kalpetta.
The march was orgnaised to mark Mahatma Gandhi's 72nd death anniversary and to protest the government's decision to implement Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
'Godse, Modi believe in same ideology'
Rahul said Nathuram Vinayak Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi, and Modi believed in the same ideology.
“Today, an ignorant and uninformed man – Narendra Modi - is trying to challenge Gandhi's idea of India. He is full of hatred and anger that he is unable to understand the strength of this country. Godse and Modi believed in the same ideology. But Modi does not have the guts to say that he believes in Godse,” Rahul said.
Rahul said Modi is compounding miseries of people by implementing CAA when the economy is going down.
“People like Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh were shot down. Women have been raped every single day. Unemployment is the highest in 45 years. Our economy has gone down. On top of that, Indians are being asked to prove that they are Indians,” he said.
Rahul said Modi is not protecting Indians. “Instead, he is protecting his friends. He sold all ports and airports in the country to Adani. Now he is planning to privatise Railways.
His idea is simple. Divide India, spread hatred and steal from India,” he said.
Rahul said Modi will distract discussions on economic crisis and unemployment by talking about Pakistan. “Indians will not get job if he talks about Pakistan. NRC and CAA are not going to get us jobs. The situation in Kashmir will not get us jobs. Burning Assam will not get us jobs,” he said.
Rahul concluded by saying that people in the country should fight Modi in the same way as they fought Godse's ideology.
“Godse did not love anyone. Our prime minister loves only himself. He is not interested in listening to the people of this country. Like we fought Godse's ideology, we will fight ideology of Modi. We will win this fight,” he concluded.
Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran and AICC secretary K C Venugopal also participated in the rally.