Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi told the party's social media volunteers virtually on Friday that the party only needs courageous members, not those who are frightened of the BJP.
The Congress President stated that the party sought only brave individuals and that those who were scared of face reality, and the BJP, were free to leave and join the RSS.
"Bahut sare log Congress ke bahar hai jo dar nahi rahein hain, unko andar lao. Jo hamare yahan dar rahein hain, unko bahar nikalo (There are many outside the party who are not scared. Bring them into the Congress. Remove those from the party who are scared)," he said.
"People, who are scared are free to leave the Congress and the fearless ones outside the Congress are our own people, and should be brought back. You are RSS people. Go leave, enjoy. We don't need you. We need fearless people. This is our ideology. This is my basic message," stated the third generation dynast who leads the Congress Party.
Gandhi hinted that Scindia, now the civil aviation minister in PM Narendra Modi's administration, departed because he was afraid of confronting reality.
"We need brave and courageous people, this is our ideology," he said.
Some believe that Gandhi was reacting to Jitin Prasada's recent departure from the Congress for the BJP. Prasada was thought to be a close aid of the Gandhis.
This remark from Rahul Gandhi comes at a time where there have been many instances of Congress leaders defecting to the BJP, even the ones who were once considered to be staunch loyalist of the Congress party and the Gandhi family.
Assam recently has been great influential leaders from the Congress party joining the BJP. The present CM of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma himself defected to the BJP in 2016 after a fall out with Rahul Gandhi, ultimately leading to Congress being voted out of power and the BJP coming to power in the state for the first time in history.
Rupjyoti Kurmi, a former Congress MLA from Mariani Constituency, recently joined the BJP, bringing over 90% of Congress workers with him, rendering his constituency practically free of the grand old party's grip. Before submitting his resignation papers, the four-time MLA publicly criticized and expressed his rage at some Assam Congress leaders, including the party's president, Ripun Bora. He pointed the finger squarely at APCC president Bora for the party's recent poll failures.
Juri Sarma Bordoloi, the former president of the Guwahati city district Congress and a former national office-bearer of the Mahila Congress, too joined the BJP recently the same day Kurmi resigned as an MLA. Bordoloi stated that around 100 of her followers had chosen to leave the party with her. Juri Sarma Bordoloi voiced her rage at the party's leadership, claiming that it has devolved into a haven for broken promises. Dr. Juri went on to say that the Congress Party is also in a quandary on the CAA issue.
"People do not want Rahul Gandhi as their leader. We lost the last election for this very reason," said Juri Sarma after her defection to the BJP.
Even the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier urged all opposition MLAs to join the ruling party and work together for the public.
"What will they do in the opposition benches for five years? I would rather say they should join us. Since we are working for the welfare of people irrespective of caste, creed, and religion, I appeal to them (opposition members) to join us and work together for the public," stated the Assam CM urging opposition members to join BJP.
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