'I don't agree with Narendra Modi but I don't hate him': Rahul Gandhi in US

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, currently on his US visit, said he disagrees with Prime Minister Narendra Modi but does not hate him

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who is currently on a visit to the United States, said on Monday (local time) that he does not agree with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s views but that does not mean that he hates him.

“...You will be surprised…I don’t actually hate Mr Modi…He’s got a point of view…I don’t agree with his point of view but I don’t hate him…in many moments I empathise with him,” the Congress leader said during an interaction on the final day of his trip. When asked about his ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’ campaign, Gandhi said that it was way more fun this way. “...You go into politics, you shout…they shout..you abuse him and then they abuse you back…this is boring stuff, it's tiring…”

Rahul Gandhi blames BJP, RSS for trying to ‘redefine India’

During the interaction at Georgetown University, Gandhi also levelled a series of charges against the Modi-led government and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He said that the BJP and the RSS were misunderstood in believing that “India is a whole bunch of separate things.” He added that there was no need to redefine the nation, emphasising that at its heart, India is a union of diverse languages, traditions, religions, and cultures.

Reiterating his charge against the Centre for favouring ‘crony capitalism’, Gandhi said that “two people, namely (Gautam) Adani and (Mukesh) Ambani, shouldn’t run every business in India.

Rahul Gandhi confident about INDIA coalition

On his views about the formation of the INDIA bloc of non-BJP parties, Gandhi said that all coalitions are negotiations. “There will always be a certain amount of back-and-forth…this is natural… we have run successful governments using coalitions...,” he said, adding that he is confident about doing it again.

He also expressed confidence that the Congress will win the upcoming Assembly elections in the next few months. The elections in two key states, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, are scheduled to be completed by October 8.