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Prime Minister Narendra Modi “immediately surrendered” after receiving a phone call from United States President Donald Trump, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday (June 3, 2025) in Bhopal, referring to Mr. Trump’s perceived role in the ceasefire announced between India and Pakistan on May 10.
Mr. Gandhi, who was in the Madhya Pradesh capital to launch a campaign to revamp the Congress party’s organisational in the State, made the remarks while addressing a gathering of party workers.
“I know the BJP and RSS people well now. You put a little pressure on them, they get scared and run away. For example, Trump gave a sign from there [the U.S.]. [He] picked up the phone and said ‘Narender, surrender’, and Narendra Modi ji obeyed Trump’s directions,” Mr. Gandhi said.
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“This is their character. Since the time of independence, they are used to writing the letter for surrender. They cave in after even a little amount of pressure. The Congress does not surrender. [Mahatma] Gandhi ji, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, they are the people who surrender. They fight the superpowers,” the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition said.
Recalling the 1971 Indo-Pak war, Mr. Gandhi claimed that then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had not given in to pressure from the U.S.
“You must remember the time when the 7th fleet [of the U.S. Navy] with an aircraft carrier had come instead of a phone call. Indira Gandhi ji said ‘I will do what I have to’. This is the difference,” he said, adding that India had split Pakistan into two despite American pressure.
Mr. Gandhi further said that the country was currently facing two kinds of fights — one ideological and the other centred on social justice.
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“I had promised the country in the Lok Sabha that whatever happens, the caste census will be passed in the Parliament. We will fight for social justice. We will pass the caste census in the Lok Sabha,” he said, claiming that there are currently two models of caste-based census.
“One is Telangana model and the other is Bihar’s. In Bihar, the officers prepared the questions for the caste survey without asking Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes, general caste or minorities. Whereas, in Telangana, we asked questions from lakhs of people,” he said, adding that the Congress’ Telangana government had prepared the questionnaire after consulting more than 3.5 lakh people.
Mr. Gandhi also launched the ‘Sangathan Srajan Abhiyan (Organisation Rejuvenation Campaign)’ aimed at reorganising the party in Madhya Pradesh, where it has been out of power since 2003, barring a 15-month period between 2018 and 2020.
During his visit, Mr. Gandhi held four separate meetings with party leaders, office-bearers and workers.
Two Congress MLAs and a senior party leader told The Hindu that Mr. Gandhi addressed several concerns raised during the meetings, including ticket distribution, appointments to district and block-level committees, and factionalism within the State unit.
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“This was the first such occasion in a long time when leaders and workers could raise their concerns freely. An MLA had raised the issue of lack of prominent face during elections, to which Rahul ji said he could see 10 such leaders in M.P. Congress,” one of the MLAs said.
The campaign is scheduled to run from June 10 to June 30, Anuradha Mishra, an MLA from Uttar Pradesh who is among the observers appointed for the campaign, said.
She added that one observer had been appointed for each district in the State and that a report would be submitted to the Congress national leadership after June 30.
Published - June 03, 2025 09:53 pm IST
English (US) ·