PM was upset by my hug, some party members also didn't approve: Rahul Gandhi
Hamburg, Aug 23: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said certain "hateful remarks" made against him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi prompted him to hug him during the no-confidence debate in Parliament and noted that "he didn't like and was upset by it", while adding "that some of his party members also didn't approve of it".
Gandhi said non-violence in India was a foundational philosophy of our nationhood and the entire history, while adding that "hate could not be countered with hate, and one can fight violence only by non-violence".
"That's the essesnce of being Indian. The basic idea is this that if someone hates you, that is something that they are doing. Hate is their internal emotion, it is their reaction to the world. Responding to their hate with hate is quite foolish. It is not going to solve any problem," said Gandhi while addressing a gathering at Bucerius Summer School in Hamburg.
"You are in full control of how you respond to things. So, when the prime minister was making sort of hateful remarks at me, I was feeling that I needed to go and give him a hug an tell him that world is not such a bad place and it is not all evil out there," said Gandhi.
"And that there are many people who actually have a lot of affection and I gave him a hug. He didn't like that..he didn't like that because..Gandhiji actually wrote it..he said the only way you can counter hate is through love," he added.
The Congress leader further said: "You can't counter hate with hate because it just increases the hate. When I actually went and showed affection to the prime minister, he was taken aback, he was upset by it. But it works, it really does."
Asked if it came as a surprise for his party members, Gandhi said: ":Yeah they were a bit..some of them didn't like it. Some of them told me later that you should not have hugged him."
"...But I disagreed. I said no..I think the conversation, not only in India, the conversation in the whole world somehow people think that by hating other people you will get a solution," he added.
Gandhi said: "I have seen it in my own life, that you simply won't get a solution. The only solution is through conversation, the only solution eventually is by talking to people and showing them that you understand where they are coming from."
He also said that the only way one can fight violence is by non-violence. "There is no other way. You might be under the illusion that you can fight violence with violence, but it will come back. You might think that you are very powerful and that you can subdue somebody else, but they will find a way of coming back."
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Cong govt ended ‘darkness’ in 11 months of rule in T’gana: CM Revanth Reddy rebuts PM Modi's remark
Hyderabad (PTI): During the last 11 months, the Congress government in Telangana has reversed an air of gloom and despair under the previous BRS regime and ended the "darkness", Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said on Saturday.
He was responding to a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that under Congress rule developmental trajectory and fiscal health is turning from bad to worse in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.
“I am happy to clarify several misconceptions and factual errors in your statements about my state and our government," Reddy said in his post.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday in a series of posts said the Congress stands "badly exposed" in front of people for promising to them what the party knows it will never be able to deliver.
“Every promise made by us to people is a sacred commitment for us. In the last 11 months, we have reversed an air of gloom & despair under BRS, and ended the darkness. Like a morning sun, Telangana is now Rising,” Reddy said in the post addressed to Modi.
Within two days of taking charge, the Telangana government fulfilled its first and second promise - free bus travel for women across all government buses, and a healthcare and hospitalisation cover of 10 lakhs under Rajiv Aarogyasree, the CM pointed out.
Even before completion of first year of rule, the Congress government has implemented India's largest ever, state-level farmer loan waiver of Rs 18,000 crore covering over 22 lakh farmers, he said responding to PM’s comments that in Telangana, farmers are awaiting the (loan) waiver they were promised.
Women get free electricity, with no domestic power charge for their homes up to 200 units, Reddy noted.
The CM also claimed that his government has held the largest recruitment drive and is regularly holding exams of all levels and provided jobs to over 50,000 eligible youth, a record “unmatched by any BJP state government.”
The CM said the government is rejuvenating River Musi, which was allegedly neglected by the previous government and protecting lakes and other precious water bodies, encroached upon and destroyed wantonly with abandon in the last 10 years.
