Rahul Gandhi on Saturday told a rally in the north Karnataka city of Bellary that the majority of Indians still believed in brotherhood and harmony despite the all-out attempts by the BJP and the RSS to spread hate.

“They cannot remove this DNA (of brotherhood) from you however much they try,” he said to applause from the rally, which marked the completion of 1,000km by the Bharat Jodo Yatra that had on September 7 begun its 3,570km journey.

Rahul described how he had seen strangers help the Yatris without asking their religion or caste.

“If someone gets injured or trips and falls, everyone rises to help her or him. This is the thought process, not just of this Yatra or Karnataka but of the whole of India,” the Congress leader said.

Rahul said that the social reformers Basavanna of Karnataka and Sree Narayana Guru of Kerala as well as B.R. Ambedkar believed in the same ideology.

“Their (the social reformers’) teachings can be seen in everyone and they (the BJP-RSS) cannot remove that DNA from you,” Rahul said.

Accusing the Sangh parivar of spreading hatred and violence across the nation, he said: “This is not desh bhakti (patriotism). They are working against the nation.

“We named this Bharat Jodo Yatra because we, along with crores of people, realised that the ideology of the BJP and the RSS is one of hatred and violence, with which they are dividing the nation and weakening it. This is an attack on India.

“And as if unemployment is not enough, as if hatred and violence are not enough, you are faced with the highest prices you have ever been faced with,” he added, referring to the inflation-induced sufferings of the people he had seen on the Yatra.

Rahul referred to how Narendra Modi had, before becoming Prime Minister, relentlessly attacked the then UPA government over the rising prices of cooking gas and other petroleum products.

“In every speech, he (as Gujarat chief minister) used to explain how mothers and sisters were suffering with gas cylinders costing Rs 400. Today that same cylinder costs more than Rs 1,000. Why doesn’t the Prime Minister explain what our mothers and sisters are supposed to do now?” he said.

“The prices of petrol and diesel are the highest we have seen in a very long time. So, on one side you are hit by unemployment and on the other side you are hit by high prices, and you are being squeezed in between.”

Rahul said the thousands of farmers he had met during the Yatra were suffering because of unfair GST rates while being denied minimum support prices for their crops.

“They have to pay 5 per cent GST on fertilisers, 12 per cent on tractors and 18 per cent on pesticides. And they don’t get MSP for their produce,” he said.