Rahul Gandhi calls Bharat Jodo Yatra an ‘attack’ on himself and explains why | Latest news from India

“For the first three or four days, I thought, 'What have I done?'” Gandhi joked, eliciting roaring laughter from the audience.

“In a way, Bharat Jodo Yatra was an attack on myself. It creates a completely different mindset and creates a unique relationship with people,” Gandhi said, thanking the yatra for helping him develop a new mindset and understand people better.

The congressman compared the inner struggle to his idea of ​​the god Shiva, thus bringing a spiritual element into his speech.

“You know the idea of ​​Shiva. When you say Shiva is the destroyer, what is he destroying? Himself. He is destroying his ego, his structure, his beliefs. So Indian political thought and action is all about going within,” he added.

Idea of ​​love in politics

Looking back on his journey, Gandhi boasted that through his Yatra he had introduced the idea of ​​love into Indian politics and that he was amazed at the impact of this idea.

“For me, the most impressive thing that happened naturally was that we introduced the idea of ​​'love' into politics, certainly for the first time in India, possibly for the first time in many countries. And that's strange… because… [in] “In the political discourse of most countries you never find the word 'love'… you find hatred, anger, injustice, corruption,” Gandhi said.

Explaining the reasons for conducting the yatra, the MP from Raebareli claimed that at that time all means of communication were blocked in India and therefore the party had decided to talk directly to the people.

“No matter what we did, everything was closed. We spoke in Parliament. This is not televised. We approach the media, but they do not record what we say. We even approach the judicial system with documents, but nothing happens. All our avenues were closed. And for a long time we literally did not know how to communicate. And then suddenly we came up with the idea,” Gandhi added.

He will attend several talks during his visit to the United States from September 8 to 10. Gandhi will be accompanied by the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, Sam Pitroda.

(With contributions from agencies)