“He Is Driving Indian Car Looking In Rear-View Mirror, It’s Crashing”

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP saying they never talk about the future, and always blame somebody else in the past for their failures.

Gandhi, who is on a visit to the US, was addressing the members of Indian diaspora in the Javits Centre in New York. They observed 60 seconds of silence in respect of those who died in the Odisha train accident.

The accident involving three trains has left at least 280 dead and brought into focus the issue of railway safety. There has been demand for the resignation of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw from some quarters.

“I remember a train accident when the Congress was in power. The Congress did not get up and say ‘now it is the fault of the British that the train has crashed’. The Congress minister said ‘it’s my responsibility and I’m resigning’. So this is the problem we have back home, we make excuses and we are not accepting the reality we are faced with,” Gandhi said, without naming the Congress minister.

He said the BJP and the RSS are incapable of looking into the future.

“He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is trying to drive the car…the Indian car and he looks in the rear-view mirror. Then he does not understand why this car is crashing, not moving forward. And it’s the same idea with the BJP, with the RSS. All of them. You listen to the ministers, you listen to the prime minister. You will never find them talking about the future. They only talk about the past,” he said.

“The BJP and the RSS are incapable of looking into the future. They never talk about the future; they only talk about the past. And they will always blame somebody else for the past,” he said.

He said there is a fight going on back in India between two ideologies — one represented by the Congress and the other by the BJP and the RSS.

“The simplest way to describe this fight is that on one side you have Mahatma Gandhi and on the other side, Nathuram Godse,” he said.

He also praised the Indian-American community for the way they have lived in the US.

“All the giants that have emerged from India, you can see that there were certain qualities that all of them possessed. Firstly, they searched for, represented and fought for the truth. Secondly, all these people were humble, and there was no arrogance in them. That is how Indians have worked in the US, and that’s why Indians are successful here. I respect and honour you for that.”

Meanwhile, amid growing calls seeking the resignation of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, stating they always blame somebody else for their failures.

The Congress also sharpened its claws against the Prime Minister. While seeking Vaishnaw’s resignation, the party said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should accept part of the responsibility for creating an “all-is-well facade” even as the critical infrastructure of the Indian Railway “languishes in neglect”.

The party asked whether Modi will take responsibility for the “deadliest rail tragedy”. It also asked who is responsible for ignoring the warnings and suggestions of experts, the parliamentary committee and CAG report.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that Modi was busy flagging off trains while not paying attention to railway safety. He called for fixing accountability of all posts from top to bottom to prevent such incidents in future.

Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil and AICC’s publicity and media department head Pawan Khera too alleged that the Odisha rail tragedy was a “man-made devastation caused by “utter negligence, serious lapses in the system, incompetence, and a narcissistic sense of know-it-all attitude of the Modi government”.