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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'NATO air defences intercept third ballistic missile over Turkiye since start of Iran war'
Istanbul (AP): NATO defences on Friday intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Iran over Turkiye, the Defense Ministry said.
It marked the third such incident since the start of the Iran war.
Turkiyes Defence Ministry said the missile was destroyed by NATO air defences deployed in the eastern Mediterranean. Residents in the southern city of Adana reported hearing a loud explosion and sirens sounding at Incirlik Air Base, which is used by US forces, in the early hours of Friday.
No casualties were reported.
This week, NATO deployed an additional Patriot air defense system in the southeastern province of Malatya, where the Kurecik radar station is based.
The Defence Ministry stressed Thursday that Incirlik is a Turkish base – and that the foreign troop presence doesn't alter the base's status – in an apparent response to warnings from Tehran to regional countries not to host US military bases.
