Guwahati: The leader of the Congress Rahul Gandhi has come under fire from Assam’s chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who called him “not fit for politics,” “does not have systemic seriousness,” and “wants to have power without accountability.”
Sarma, who served in Congress for more than two decades, claimed in an interview with national media that he had warned the party’s leadership that they would lose the northeast if they didn’t change course. In 2015, Sarma joined the BJP. He claimed that Rahul Gandhi lacked seriousness as a politician, acted like “a feudal lord,” and was haughty.
“The first thing is he is not fit for politics. Probably, the work he should not do, he is doing,” Sarma said.
Rahul Gandhi, he claimed, occasionally leaves meetings midway to engage in his workout regimen, such as jogging, or he may leave the room and return after 30 minutes.
“There is no systematic seriousness,” he said.
According to Sarma, Rahul Gandhi, who is currently on the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, has accepted moral responsibility for the party’s loss in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and for his defeat in Amethi. He has resigned as party president but is still making important decisions for the party, Sarma said.
“Rahul has taken moral responsibility that the party lost the Lok Sabha elections under my leadership, so I will not be the president. But who is running the party today, who is leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra? Who is the whole party running after? That means you want to enjoy the power without accountability. In a democracy, when somebody wants to enjoy the power without parliamentary accountability, without party accountability, without the accountability of the people, that is the most dangerous thing,” he said.
“You are not Congress president but you take all the decisions. If you are not Congress president, taken up moral responsibility after losing the election, why entire party is behind you now,” he added.
According to Sarma, Rahul Gandhi went on a yatra but fell short of articulating his vision for the nation.
“They (Gandhi family) go to the poor people, but do the poor come to their house? Have you ever seen Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi having dinner with poor people at the same dining table,” Sarma asked.
He said Congress has an ecosystem where only the Gandhi family matters.
“I must give credit to Congress party, they create an environment that beyond Gandhi family you have nothing. When someone resigns from the party, the Congress spokesperson says he has betrayed the family, they will not say he has betrayed the nation. They will say that the family gave you everything but the fact is that the people of the nation give power. But they create a buzz that family had made you MP. This is the environment of Congress,” Sarma said.
“The day you join Congress…the Congress has an inside culture that your life starts and ends with Gandhi(s). Like you get attached to any guru, you just surrender everything to that guru. There is an atmosphere. I don’t know who started this, who will end but this ecosystem is very strong in Congress.” he added.
Sarma also predicted that many people would come from the Congress to the BJP.