Rahul speak

Launching a stringent attack on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, Congress general secretary and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi accused him of pursuing a divisive agenda to split the country.“What Raj Thackeray is doing is wrong; this will divide the country,” the Amethi MP said during an interactive session with students of the H N Bahuguna University in Srinagar. The Congress leader, in fact, took umbrage at being asked about the MNS attack on ‘North Indians’ in Mumbai. “Why do you call yourself a North Indian?” he said, deploring the tendency to compartmentalise the country. “The more walls you raise the more divisions are created; either India or no India,” he said. In a clear rejoinder to Thackeray’s campaign against migrants from UP and Bihar in Maharashtra, Rahul said, “There’s nothing like North India or West India or South India—it’s only India and this you should remember.” He went on to demolish the Thackeray brand of politics. “If you start identifying yourself as a Hindu, Muslim, Christian, the differences will only grow and a Bal Thackeray will exploit it and someone else in another state,” he said.