Not nationalism but cowardice: Rahul Gandhi on Jaishankar's China remarks
Nava Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Feb 26: In a scathing attack on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said his recent remarks on China did not show nationalism but cowardice and that these were in line with V D Savarkar's ideology of "bowing before the strong".
Addressing the 85th plenary session of the Congress here, Gandhi also claimed that his party leaders and workers were "satyagrahis" while the BJP and RSS people were "satta grahis" (power seekers).
"I want to tell you something about the government's thinking. A few days ago, in an interview, a minister said that China's economy is bigger than India so how can we fight them. When the British ruled over us was their economy smaller than ours," Gandhi said, without naming Jaishankar.
Does this mean that one doesn't take on anyone who is stronger and only takes on those who are weaker, he said.
"This is cowardice. It is (V D) Savarkar's ideology that if someone is stronger than you, bow before them. India's minister is stating that your economy is bigger than us so we cannot stand up to you. Is this nationalism? Is this patriotism?" the former Congress president said.
"What kind of patriotism is this that you beat someone weaker than you and bow before the strong," Gandhi said.
"There is a word for it. Mahatma Gandhi used to talk of satyagraha. Satyagraha means don't leave the path of truth. There is a new word for the people of the RSS and the BJP. We are satyagrahis, they are 'satta grahis'. They will do anything for satta (power), they would align with anyone, bow before anyone for power. This is their truth," he said.
The Congress has slammed Jaishankar for his reported remarks.
"They are the bigger economy, what I am going to do? I am a smaller economy. Am I going to sort of pick up a fight with a bigger economy? It is not a question of reacting. It is a question of common sense. It is in our interest to stabilise our borders or a situation, it is not out of love, affection or sentiment," Jaishankar had reportedly said.
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Kumaraswamy to visit Andrew Yule's tea gardens in Assam soon
Guwahati(PTI): Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday said he would soon visit tea gardens, owned by public sector enterprise Andrew Yule, to revive its estates as workers are facing immense hardship.
Kumaraswamy, the minister of steel and heavy industries, thanked Assam Industries Minister Bimal Borah for apprising him of various challenges being faced by the tea gardens and the need to support the management to alleviate suffering of workers.
"We are concerned about the economic challenges and hardship of the tea gardens owned by Andrew Yule Group in Assam and its impact on the wage earners," Kumaraswamy said at a press conference here.
The tea garden wage earners will also get a 20 per cent Durga Puja bonus, like workers of other gardens, he said.
Referring to his recent visit to the Cement Corporation of India Ltd factory at Bokajan in Karbi Anglong district, Kumaraswamy said there was a plan for the revival of the cement industry in the state by investing Rs 700 crore.
He also emphasised on the need for a cement manufacturing unit in the northeastern states.
On the current development of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) policy utilisation in Assam, the union minister said more than Rs 2,000 crore would be invested for battery charging stations and nearly 70,000 such facilities will be set up across the country.
More than 18,000 e-buses will also be purchased to fulfil the goal of carbon emission reduction, Kumaraswamy added.
