Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is in the US for a 10-day-long tour, has endorsed the Centre's stance on the Ukraine war, stating that the Congress's position wouldn't be any different.
Rahul, while taking queries from journalists during a free-wheeling conversation at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday, stressed the significance of India’s decade-long bilateral ties with Russia.
"I would respond (to Russia) similarly to what the BJP did. We (Congress) would be responding in a similar way (to the Russia-Ukraine conflict). Because India has that sort of relationship with Russia and that can’t be denied. Our policy would be similar," Rahul told media persons.
Though India has never condemned Russia for the invasion, it has always maintained that the crisis must be resolved through talks. While India continues to be one of Russia's biggest oil trading partners, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his recent meeting with Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy, had assured that he will do whatever is possible to help resolve the conflict.
Rahul, however, did hit out against the BJP and the Prime Minister for their handling of the cross-border conflicts with China, stating that Beijing was "occupying our territory."
"The fact of the matter is China is occupying our territory. It's an accepted fact," Rahul said. "It's absolutely unacceptable. Prime Minister seems to believe otherwise."
Rahul also shared his hopes for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, stating that the Congress will do very well. "I think the Congress party will do very well in the next two years," said 52-year-old Gandhi, a former party president. "I think there is a hidden undercurrent building. I think (the outcome) will surprise people," he added.
Calling the Karnataka assembly elections where Congress routed BJP from power, a "better indicator of what's going to happen," Rahul said the opposition in India is well united. "And I think it's getting more and more united. We're having conversations with all the Opposition (parties). I think quite a lot of good work is happening."
"It's a complicated discussion because there are spaces where we have competing also with (other) Opposition (parties). So, it's a little bit of give and take as required. But I'm confident that that will happen, he added.
He also accused the BJP of polarising the nation. "They sort of generate a certain amount of hatred in society, they polarise society and they are not inclusive. They don't embrace everybody, and they divide society," Gandhi said. However, the Congress leader, when asked about the party's alliance with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Kerala, said that the IUML was a secular party. " Muslim League is a completely secular party, there is nothing non-secular about the Muslim League," he clarified.
