Rahul Gandhi hails nationwide protest; thanks people for defending Constitution, democracy
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday thanked the thousands of people who joined protests across the country and the millions who expressed solidarity at 3 pm, describing the day as a powerful demonstration that the people of India will not be intimidated.
In a post shared after the protests, Gandhi expressed gratitude to the leaders of the INDIA Bloc, Congress party workers, and activists of the alliance.
“Today was a very important day because we needed to show the government that the people of India are not going to be intimidated. You cannot beat us, threaten us, frighten us. We will not accept being bullied,” he said.
Gandhi took a sharp dig at the RSS, questioning the absence of those he accused of attacking young children the previous day.
“I was wondering where the cowards of the RSS who were beating the young children day before yesterday were. Where were those people? Because I didn’t see them,” he remarked.
He challenged them to “wear your little scarves and come out” when the people of India stand together, calling both the RSS and the Prime Minister “bullies” who rely only on power and cannot stand up openly.
The Congress leader emphasised unity, stating there were no parallel protests but one collective movement.
“It’s one protest, and it’s a protest where everybody is standing together. Every single person is going to stand against these killers of our Constitution, these killers of our democracy. And we’re not going to back down,” he declared.
Gandhi also thanked civil society organisations for their support, saying the movement values and loves them. He concluded by expressing pride in all those who came out to defend the idea of India, the Constitution, and democracy.
“I’m extremely proud of every single person who came out on the streets,” he said, adding that everyone worked like a team.
The remarks come amid ongoing political confrontations, with the opposition framing the protests as a defence of democratic values against what it terms “authoritarian tactics”.