Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched his party’s poll campaign in Odisha with an attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre and its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Addressing the Odisha Dialogue in Bhubaneswar on Friday, the 48-year-old Gandhi said that the last five years have been particularly devastating to the country with the freedom of democratic institutions under threat and a single ideology running the country.

“What has happened in the last five years is devastating to the country. Supreme Court judges are coming out and saying that they are not being allowed to do their job properly. This has never happened in Indian history,” he said.

Explaining his party’s ideology and without naming anyone, Gandhi said, “This idea that one man can provide answers to billions of people is what I don’t believe in fundamentally. Anyone who believes that one person can do miracles doesn’t understand the culture or the ethos of the state or the country.”

Responding to a question on the freedom of institutions, Gandhi said that attacks on institutions both unfortunately in Centre and Odisha, where the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is in power.

“You currently have one institution called the RSS – the mothership of the BJP – that believes it should be the only institution in the country. We do not believe that institutions should not be independent. We believe that there is a link between India’s success, constitution, advancement and its institutional independence,” he said.

“We believe that India should be run by its 1.2 billion people. We believe that one ideology should not run this country… other ideologies should also be allowed to flourish,” Gandhi added.

Hitting out at the Prime Minister, Gandhi said that the basic difference between the BJP and the Congress is that the latter listens to the people.

“The best thing that happened to me as a politician and human being was the abuse I got from BJP and RSS; it has been the biggest gift they could give me. I look at Mr Modi when he abuses me and I feel like giving him a hug,” Gandhi said.

“I realise he (PM Modi) disagrees with me and I disagree with him, and I will fight him and I will try and make sure that he is not the prime minister but I don’t hate him. I give him the right to have his opinion,” he added.

He said that he is perfectly happy for someone to have a different opinion than him.

“I learn from people who are nasty to me. Hate is a weakness,” he added.

Gandhi acknowledged that when the Congress is operating there is chaos and noise “but that is part of democracy”.

“My model is people know more about their state than me and I intend to learn from them. When we run a state, we listen to the people. That’s not how Mr. Modi or Mr. Naveen Patnaik (Odisha CM) think,” he said.

To a question on job creation, Gandhi gave the example of China.

“Why is automation not having impact on job creation in China? When I went to Kailash Mansarovar, I met a couple of their ministers who said job creation is not a problem. The real issue is if you are actually producing things and if you are in technology stream then you don’t have a problem. You do have a problem if you are producing low value jobs. Problem, therefore, is that India is not producing things; China dominates it,” he said.

“We have to compete with China. We have to accept that the single biggest challenge is China’s ability to produce jobs after jobs,” he said adding that only India can step up to this challenge.

“Modi ji talks about Make in India. What’s the actual result? In 24 hours 50,000 jobs are created in China every day whereas India produces only 450 jobs in the same time. This is the data of GOI in Lok Sabha,” he said.

Gandhi also said that the monopolisation and capture of education, healthcare system which forces a middle-class person to spend lakhs needs to be challenged.

The Congress chief is scheduled to address a rally at Tamando stadium in the city.

Assembly election in Odisha will be held along with Lok Sabha polls.