Mumbai: In a bid to connect with the Maharashtrian crowd in Mumbai, AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday, switched to speaking Marathi with the line ‘Til Gul ghya God God Bola’ (eat til and jaggery and speak sweetly) as he simultaneously sent across a strong message to his party workers.
Gandhi went a step ahead and gestured that he would keep ’til laddoos’ in his office and whenever there is a fight between two Congress leaders, he will offer it to them.
His comments come in the backdrop of the recent fights going on within the party in Mumbai. On Tuesday, there was an ugly fight between supporters of former minister Naseem Khan and MLA Aslam Sheikh. The party workers had come to blows on the issue of deciding the itinerary of Rahul Gandhi. This was probably the reason why Congress leader Gurudas Kamat had to issue a statement on Friday, asking his followers to not create ruckus during Gandhi’s visit.
Despite Rahul’s efforts to be the peacemaker, asking his men to rein their horses, almost all his leaders made stinging remarks in their speech as they took stage after him at the MRCC office.
Gandhi said, “In a big party, such things are bound to happen. Difference of opinion is good…it only happens in Congress … in RSS, they scare or finish off people.” But in the same breath, he also advised those battling the onslaught of senior leaders ganging up against them that, “In an organisation, we have to take everyone along… if you want to work with everyone, you have to take everyone along.”
When Gandhi saw that none of his remarks had any effect on the infighting going on within the party, he delivered the ultimatum too at the party workers’ meet. He said, “If fights go beyond a point, it’s my duty to bring in discipline.”
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi was received by senior Maharashtra congress leaders Prithviraj Chavhan, Ashok Chavhan, Narayan Rane at the airport.
On Saturday, he will be speaking to a management college students in western suburb. He will also be holding a padyatra from Bandra to Dharavi, “to raise the voice against the electricity issue”.
