Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that the BJP, guided by the RSS, has a long-term plan to destroy Indian culture, language and tradition and urged the people of Mizoram to reject the saffron party in the November 7 Assembly elections.

Addressing a poll rally in Lunglei, the Congress leader said that the BJP also knows that if they come to Mizoram directly, the people of the state would reject them and that’s why they are trying to enter the state through the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF).

The Opposition Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) is also helping the BJP to enter the state, Rahul Gandhi said on the second day of his two-day campaign in the northeastern state.

He told the gathering, “I am less interested in telling my ‘Mann-Ki-Baat’ but I am keen to listen to your ‘Mann-Ki-Baat.’ Your religion, culture and language are real assets of India. Diversity of religion and culture are India’s traditions which the BJP is trying to destroy.”

“The Central government is controlled by the RSS. Modi, Amit Shah and the Central government have been trying to control all the states, all institutions and people of India. We defeated the BJP in Karnataka. We will defeat the BJP in Telangana. We will decimate the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. We will defeat the BJP in the Chhattisgarh election. We defeated the BJP in Rajasthan last time, and this time, we will defeat them again. We plan to do the same in the northeast,” Rahul Gandhi stated.

Promising an economic empowerment scheme for entrepreneurs, the Congress leader said that direct banking support would be provided under the scheme to small and medium-scale entrepreneurs.

He said that rampant unemployment had caused the drug menace to go out of control, leading to the deaths of 250 people in recent years, and due to the flawed GST and demonetisation policy, it was difficult for the economy of Mizoram to progress.

The Lok Sabha member from Kerala’s Wayanad constituency promised cooking gas at Rs 750 per cylinder against the existing Rs 1,000 and old age pension of Rs 2,000 per month for the elderly.

The Congress leader highlighted Rajasthan’s Rs 25 lakh health insurance cover, five social security schemes in Karnataka and pro-farmers’ and small and medium entrepreneurs’ schemes in Chhattisgarh. “It’s always a pleasure to come to Mizoram. It brings back old memories of when I first came here in 1986 at the age of 16. At that time, Mizoram was transitioning from violence to peace. You achieved statehood in 1987. So it’s been quite a long journey. Any progress is built on peace and harmony,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi said that young generations do not have any experience of violence in Mizoram while the elderly know the cost of strife.

Claiming that infrastructure of Mizoram is very poor, the Lok Sabha member said that during the Congress governments at the Centre and the state, the Lengpui airport was constructed, the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Zoram Medical College were set up and new land use policies for the benefit of the farmers were initiated.

“The Congress has a vision for every single state in the country and a similar vision would be formulated for the state of Mizoram,” Rahul Gandhi stated.

Referring to the ethnic violence in neighbouring Manipur, he said that hundreds of people, including women and children were killed, countless number of women were raped and the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) remained silent and avoided visiting the state even through it has been burning for over five months.

“The Prime Minister’s attitude is as if Manipur is not a part of India and he (PM) has no time to visit the crisis-ridden state,” Rahul Gandhi said.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)