Idea of non-violence under vicious attack in India: Rahul Gandhi

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ The idea of non-violence is under vicious attack in India and the need of the hour is to break the cycle of violence, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said on Monday.

Mr. Gandhi recalled that the BJP had opposed the introduction of computers in India by his father Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s and even questioned the need for the Indian Institutes of Technology when they were founded.

“No democratic country anywhere else in the world has achieved what India has achieved without violence, peacefully, together,” the Congress leader said. The path of non-violent progress is now under threat as intolerance is on the rise, said Mr. Gandhi.

The Congress leader was speaking at an event at the University of California in Berkeley, kicking off his American tour during which he is scheduled to interact with several groups including U.S. opinion makers and lawmakers in multiple cities. The Congress leader said India’s achievement was in lifting the largest number of people out poverty in a democratic fashion.