Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a gathering of the Indian diaspora in Santa Clara, California, in the US, where he expressed his views on the political situation in India.

He claimed that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party have taken control of all political instruments in the country.

Gandhi stated that traditional political tools were no longer effective, and people in India felt threatened with the use of government agencies against them.

“Prior to walking, we were finding that the normal tools that we used to use for politics… conversations like this, public meetings, were not working anymore. All the instruments we needed to do politics in India they were controlled by the BJP and the RSS,” he said.

Gandhi shared the Congress party's initiative of organizing the "Bharat Jodo Yatra" (Unite India March). He explained that during this march, the party aimed to promote unity and love in a divisive political climate. The line "Nafrat ki bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan kholi" (opened a shop of love in the market of hatred) was coined to represent their message.

“I’d get up in the morning, 6 o’clock we used to start, and we used to end walking around 7.30-8 in the evening. I was like it is very strange that I’m not feeling tired at all. Then I started asking people around if they are feeling tired. They said no they are not. I started to think about it and I realised that actually it was not us that was walking, it was India walking with us," the former Wayanad MP told the gathering.

"And the large mass of people who were coming… all religion, all communities, kids… they were creating an atmosphere of love and affection… that nobody was feeling tired. All were walking together, and helping each other. And that’s where we came up with the idea: Nafrat ki bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan kholi ,” he said.

Gandhi's event in California was named "Mohabbat ki Dukaan".