Moment Modi said he speaks directly to God, we knew we had 'blown him apart': Rahul Gandhi

Washington DC: Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, recently took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting that Modi's claim of being able to "speak directly to God" indicates he has lost touch with reality. Gandhi was speaking to students and faculty at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, on Monday.

Gandhi criticised Modi for not facing significant political challenges while serving as Gujarat's Chief Minister and later as Prime Minister, but he claimed that the "idea" of Modi's leadership has now fallen apart.

"Halfway through the campaign, Modi didn't think that he was near 300-400 seats...We were getting information from regular sources, some of the intelligence agencies...it was very clear. There was this internal thing going on in the Prime Minister that I could see...he (PM Modi) was in Gujarat for many years, never faced adversity, and became Prime Minister of India. And suddenly, this idea started to crack," Rahul Gandhi said,

"We knew when he said that I speak directly to God. We knew that there we had blown him apart...We saw it as a psychological collapse," he added.

He also noted that the coalition that supported Modi’s rise to power has "collapsed." 

"The coalition that brought Narendra Modi to power has collapsed...The idea that Narendra Modi is running the government for the people of India, is gone, now the idea has been replaced...that there is a huge nexus between the government and two or three large businesses, and the OBCs and Dalits are being taken for a ride," he said.

Referring to the Income Tax Department’s freezing of Congress party bank accounts, Gandhi said the party struggled to plan its election strategy but ultimately "destroyed" Modi's political image.

Gandhi argued that Modi is now "psychologically trapped" and unable to accept the election results.

"I was watching the elections, and there was a point when we sat down with the treasurer, who said, 'Look, your bank accounts are frozen. How are you supposed to fight an election if your bank accounts are frozen?' We really didn't have an answer then," Rahul Gandhi said.

"Yet the Congress Party fought the election and essentially destroyed the idea of Modi. You can see this because, when you watch the Prime Minister in Parliament now, he's psychologically trapped. He cannot come to terms with it; he cannot understand how this has happened," he added.

During his visit to the US, Gandhi addressed the Indian diaspora in Virginia and interacted with students and faculty at the University of Texas in Dallas. He emphasised the role of the Indian diaspora as a crucial connection between the two nations.

Agency