Has RSS gained from Pranab Mukherjee’s visit: Here is what Sheila Dixit has to say
Sheila Dixit has some advise for the united opposition. The former Delhi chief minister says that Rahul Gandhi must be the face of a joint opposition if the BJP has to be challenged in 2019.
The three-time Delhi chief minister said the country was facing serious challenge of "remaining together" under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government and all the opposition parties must join hands, leaving aside their differences, to dethrone the current dispensation from power.
"Look he is leading the party. Automatically the one who leads the party is chosen for everything. He is the leader of our party and if Congress has to lead the opposition alliance, then Rahul Gandhi automatically becomes its leader," the 80-year-old Congress leader said.
Buoyed by results of Karnataka Assembly election as well as recent bypolls, the Congress and and other prominent opposition leaders have been talking about the need to form a grand alliance to stop BJP's electoral juggernaut in 2019 polls but there has been no consensus yet on who will lead such an alliance.
"There
is
a
small
movement
to
bring
together
all
the
non-BJP
parties
is
going
on.
That
will
require
some
understandings,
some
sort
of
adjustments,"
she
told
PTI
in
an
interview.
Asked
whether
the
Congress
should
try
to
stitch
together
the
coalition,
Dikshit
said
the
time
has
come
for
such
an
alliance
the
party
should
go
for
it.
The Congress leader, who was the chief minister of Delhi between 1998 and 2013, said India was going through a "very difficult phase" and that opposition parities must leave aside their differences for the sake of the country's future.
"As a country, the biggest struggle for us is to remain together. We are a nation which has got every religion here. Some may be bigger, some may be smaller. The basic philosophy of the country is to carry everybody together and make everybody feel that he is an Indian first. The Congress gave the feeling to everybody," she said.
Dikshit said Rahul Gandhi has emerged as a capable leader and there was no reason why he should not lead the opposition alliance.
Asked about Sonia Gandhi's role in the party, Dikshit said she remains the guiding force of the party and will remain so.
"Sonia Gandhi has been the leader of the party for over two decades. She knows the party more than anybody else does and I do not think she will run away from responsibilities. She built up Congress when everybody felt the party is finished," Ms Dikshit said.
Asked about Pranab Mukherjee's recent visit to RSS headquarters in Nagpur, Dikshit said his speech there was good "but no body in Congress is being able to understand why he had to go there. There is a big why?"
"There is disappointment in Congress. He spoke well there. His speech has been appreciated. But the visit was not expected," she added.
On whether Mukherjee's visit legitimised the RSS, she said "RSS does not need legitimisation by anybody other then themselves. They have a particular way of dressing, they have a particular way of thinking. I do not think they need any legitimisation."
She observed that the RSS must have "gained" from Mukherjee's visit. "They will take it as a gain," she said.