Edathala (Kerala): After taking on the Shiv
Sena on its home turf for "Mumbai for Marathis" campaign,
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the Sainiks should be
opposed by mobilising people and not by violence.
Taking potshots at the Sena protest, he said there were 15
to 20 Shiv Sena workers with black flags when he boarded the
suburban trains in Mumbai yesterday but there were thousands
of people to support him.
"This is how we should oppose them. We should oppose them
not by violence but by mobilising people," he told student
leaders during an unannounced brief visit here.
Ignoring the protest by Shiv Sainiks, Gandhi had yesterday
hopped onto Mumbai local trains abandoning his motorcade to
make a last minute detour through the bastions of the Saffron
outfit which had asked its cadres to greet him with black
flags for opposing its "Mumbai for Marathis" campaign.
"India belongs to all Indians. If you are an Indian, you
can live in any part of the country as you live in your state
... whether you are a Keralite or Tamilian or Punjabi. It
doesn't matter," Gandhi said.
The Congress leader, who is trying to woo youth through
interactions country-wide, stressed the need to strengthen
student organisations by mobilising more workers.
Taking everyone by surprise, including the Congress state
leadership and police, Gandhi arrived here this morning from
Puducherry to address about 100 elected members of the
district and state level members of the Kerala Students Union
(KSU) and those from Lakshadweep.
Clad in black shirt and blue jeans, the scion of the
Gandhi family said the idea of democracy could only make the
organisation stronger.
Seeing some elderly women and small children waiting to
meet him with flowers, he accepted their greetings. Gandhi
later left for New Delhi.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, February 06, 2010, 18:26