After Modi hug, Rahul Gandhi says only love and compassion can build nation

Waking up to a new day after hogging the limelight with his antics in the Lok Sabha that sparked off applause and laughter in the House, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the only way to build a nation was by love and compassion for the people.

Gandhi took to Twitter on Saturday and said that Friday’s debate in Parliament on the no-trust vote was about Prime Minister Narendra Modi using “hate, fear and anger” in the hearts of some people to build his narrative, and the Congress countering it with love and compassion. 

“The point of yesterday’s debate in Parliament.. PM uses Hate, Fear and Anger in the hearts of some of our people to build his narrative. We are going to prove that Love and Compassion in the hearts of all Indians, is the only way to build a nation (sic), he tweeted. 

Gandhi walked across to Modi and hugged him with a wink after delivering his 45-minute speech during the no-confidence motion debate in the Lok Sabha.

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In his speech, Gandhi accused Modi of unleashing “jumla strike” on people in the form of demonetisation, joblessness, Rafale deal, poor state of economy, mob violence, lynching, and incidents of alleged atrocities on Dalits and women. 

Modi shook Gandhi’s hands but ignored his call to stand so that he could hug the BJP leader. The Congress chief, however, embraced him as he remained seated.

Modi, who initially looked nonplussed, recovered quickly and called Gandhi back and patted him on the back. Despite his endearing gesture, the PM, during his reply to the debate, hit back at Gandhi.