Congress president Rahul Gandhi took the audience at the party's 'Jan Aakrosh' rally by surprise with his candid acknowledgment of the dissenting views of senior party leader Salman Khurshid. He said the party welcomes different points of view, and asserted that he would be the first one to protect Khurshid despite his difference of opinion.
Khurshid, who was present at the rally, smiled and clapped as Rahul mentioned him and talked about being tolerant of different points of view in the party.
“At times, there are different points of view in the party. For example, some days back, Salman Khurshid expressed a different opinion. I am willing to say from this stage today that in our party, different views are welcome. I will protect Salman Khurshid,” said the Congress president. However, he added, “But when the party is fighting the RSS, we have to be united.”
He said this was the difference between the Congress and the BJP, as neither BJP president Amit Shah nor Prime Minister Narendra Modi could say something like this at a party forum. “In their party, there is place for only view, that of Narendra Modi or Amit Shah. There is no respect for the views of Arun Jaitley or L.K. Advani,” he said.
Khurshid is learnt to be in disagreement with the Congress' decision to go ahead with its plans of initiating an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. He had also raised eyebrows with his comments at a function at the Aligarh Muslim University some days back, when he was reported as having said that the Congress had the blood of Muslims on its hands.
Meanwhile, in another message that was intended for in-house audience, Rahul spoke about balancing the experience of seniors with the enthusiasm of youth. He said, “In this party, whether you are a senior leader or a youngster, you will be respected. You will get a place. Whether you are 80 or 90 years old or an 18-year-old worker, you will all be respected. And if that does not happen, I will take action.”
As the Congress president is in the process of making changes in the organisation, there is unease amongst the senior leaders on what their role will be in the new scheme of things. And Rahul's comments appear to have been aimed at assuaging this feeling.