‘Next poll is ours’: Rahul Gandhi exhorts allies to ‘stand together & resist’

3 min readNew DelhiJun 13, 2026 06:28 AM IST

The Congress, he said, will play the role of the “blue-necked one (Shiva) who drinks all the poison”; whatever criticism the allies have for the party will be “accepted with a smile”.

LEADER OF Opposition Rahul Gandhi told his INDIA bloc allies during Monday’s meeting that it was easy to beat the BJP if they “stood together and resisted”. The Congress, he said, will play the role of the “blue-necked one (Shiva) who drinks all the poison”; whatever criticism the allies have for the party will be “accepted with a smile”.

The Congress on Friday released the full text and audio of Gandhi’s speech at the INDIA bloc meeting, which saw some of the allies and regional parties criticising the Congress for its “high-handedness” even as they accepted that the party was the only one which could lead the alliance against the BJP.

Reacting to Rahul’s unity call, the BJP on Friday said he should focus on uniting his own party before talking about bringing the Opposition parties together.

Gandhi in his speech said: “I find that in our discussions there is often a tinge of depression. People think, oh my God, how will we ever beat the BJP? Let me tell you, it is easy to beat them if we stand together and resist.” He also said it was not his place to answer any of the things that were said about the Congress at the meeting. “It is my place to — like in the Shaiva tradition — swallow everything. The idea of the blue-necked one (Shiva) who drinks all the poison. Whatever criticism you have of me or the Congress party — we will accept it with a smile. We will try to make you happy, because our role… is to unite all of you together with love and affection,” said Gandhi.

On regional parties, Gandhi said: “I am sorry to say there is a confusion in this group. The confusion is that you — the SP, the TMC, the RJD — believe that the political instruments you have used so far will still work…. That field does not exist anymore. The BJP controls the institutions of the state… the legal system, bureaucracy, intelligence agencies, Election Commission.”

He appealed to the allies to change their mindset. “You are thinking that the challenge is winning the next election. The next election has already been won. Please understand, there is so much anger among the people that the next election is already over. The problem is the capture of the instruments of the Indian state by the RSS… you will not have a free and fair election to win.”

Responding to Rahul’s speech, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said in a video: “He (Gandhi) says that everyone should work together. Yet, he is the one who betrays allies. He campaigned against Mamata Banerjee in the West Bengal polls. He abandoned the DMK at the first opportunity, and then claims that he wants to unite the Opposition.”