Rahul Gandhi In US: Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, who is on a three day visit to the United States, on Sunday alleged that a battle is going between Hindi and other languages like Telugu. The LoP also accused the RSS of pursuing India of one ideology.
While speaking in Dellas, Taxes, the Lok Sabha LoP vouched for equality and asserted that no language or religion is superior to the other.
Gandhi arrived in Dallas, Texas, on Sunday. The Congress MP was welcomed at the airport by Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, and members of the Indian diaspora.
The Congress MP underscored that India’s National Anthem describes all our states equally, and it does not begin by saying that one state is the best, the second best. He also criticised the RSS for believing that India is “one idea.”
Gandhi made the remarks during his first interaction with the Indian diaspora after becoming Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha in June following the General Elections held in May. “RSS believes that India is one idea. We believe that India is a multiplicity of ideas,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi also drew parallels between India and the United States during his speech, emphasising that the two countries share an important factor that both are “unions of states”. “The United States, whose national anthem we also played, is a prime example of this,” he said.
“We started here with the National Anthem, and it mentions all our states equally. It does not begin by saying that one state is the best, the second best, or the third best. The anthem describes India—India as a union of states, very much like the United States,” Gandhi said.
Often people say that we are the two biggest democracies, but we share another important factor: we are both unions of states. The United States, whose national anthem we also played, is a prime example of this. In our Constitution, it is clearly stated: “India, that is Bharat, is a union of states,” which means, just like in the United States, no state is superior to another state, no religion is superior to another religion, and no language is superior to another language,” he further stated.
During his speech, the Congress MP emphasised the importance of treating people coming from different states and cultures equally.
“My brother who wears a turban deserves the same respect as someone who does not wear a turban. We cannot say, “We don’t like you because you wear a turban,” or, “He speaks Tamil, so we don’t like him,” or, “He speaks Hindi, so we like him,” or, “He speaks Malayalam, so we don’t like him,” or Telugu,” Gandhi said.
“See, when we say “Telugu,” we are not just talking about a language. Embedded within Telugu is history, tradition, music, dance, food—everything. When you tell the people of Andhra Pradesh that Telugu is not as important as Hindi, you are insulting them. You are saying their history is not important, their tradition is not important, their food is not important, their music is not important, and their forefathers are not important. This is the simple battle being fought in India,” he stated.
