Hindutvawadi bathes alone in Ganga, says Rahul Gandh in Amethi, targeting PM Modi
Amethi (UP), Dec 18: In his second visit to Amethi after the 2019 defeat, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his 'Hindu versus Hindutvawadi' salvo.
"On one side is Hindu. On the other is Hindutvawadi. On one side is truth, love and non-violence and on the other is falsehood, hatred and violence," he said.
"Hindutvawadi bathes alone in Ganga, but a Hindu will bathe with crores of others," Gandhi said at a public gathering, taking a swipe at the prime minister who recently inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi after taking a holy dip.
"For the first time, we saw a man standing alone in the Ganges taking a bath. Hindus bathe with lakhs of people, but these Hindutvawadis were standing alone in the Ganges. Even Rajnath Singh and Yogi Adityanath did not find a place," Rahul Gandhi said.
"Narendra Modi Ji says that he is a Hindu, but when did he protect the truth.... (Is he) Hindu or Hindutvawadi?" Gandhi said at a public gathering, raising the issue of jobs, China's incursions and farm laws.
Mahatma Gandhi was a Hindu as he fought against injustice while a Hindutvawadi is like Nathu Ram Godse who used to lie, spread violence and had assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress leader said.
"A Hindu never weeps but Hindutvawadis cry. When Nathuram Godse was hanged, he cried bitterly," he said.
The former Congress president and his sister and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took out a padyatra (foot march) from Jagdishpur to village Harimau where Rahul Gandhi addressed a public meeting.
"There is a lot of talk about religion in the country, about Hindu religion. The fight in India today is between Hindu and Hindutvawadi. On one side are the Hindus who tread the path of truth, and on the other side are Hindutvawadis, who spread hatred and can do anything for snatching power," Rahul Gandhi said.
Speaking about his association with Amethi, Rahul said "A few days ago Priyanka came to me and she told me that I have to go to Lucknow to hold a meeting. I told my sister that before going to Lucknow, I want to talk to my family first, so I am here today.
"In 2004, I came into politics and fought the first election here and you taught me a lot. I learned to work from you and in a way you showed me the way."
Talking about the prevailing conditions in the country, he said, "There are two big questions before the country today- unemployment and inflation - but neither the chief minister nor the prime minister answers questions about them."
"Modi ji will sometimes take a bath in the Ganges, sometimes go to Kedarnath. Today in Ladakh, the Chinese army is sitting inside India and has snatched land from India and made it its own, but the prime minister neither said nor did anything about it," he said.
The Congress leader again accused Modi of working for the capitalists and alleged that demonetisation, GST and the three agriculture laws were all brought for their benefit.
"Modi brought three black agricultural laws and first said that they were in the interest of farmers and after one year when the farmers of India stood up and agitated, the prime minister said that 'I apologise, I have made a mistake''," Rahul Gandhi said.
"I asked a question in Parliament that seven hundred farmers were martyred did you give them compensation, I got the answer that not a single farmer was martyred, " he said.
Rahul Gandhi said they have family ties with Amethi and "this relationship will never break".
"A Hindu spends his entire life finding, understanding and fighting for truth. Hindu faces his fears and never lets them turn into hatred, anger or violence, but Hindutvawadi only indulges in politics of lies and has nothing to do with the truth. He only uses lies to snatch power," Rahul Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi was a Member of Parliament from here for 15 years. He is visiting Amethi for the second time after losing the seat, which had been a pocket borough of the Nehru-Gandhi family, by 55,120 votes to BJP's Smriti Irani in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
There are five assembly seats in Amethi parliamentary constituency. Out of these, Amethi, Jagdishpur, Salon, Tiloi are held by the BJP. The Gauriganj seat is with the Samajwadi Party. The Congress is trying to regain its turf in Amethi and Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming assembly polls.
The leaders were taking part in the 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan-Bhajapa bhagao, mehengai hatao pratigya padyatra' organised against the policies of the Modi government.
Congress workers accorded a warm reception to their leaders. Cutouts and reception gates were set up at various points to welcome them.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
