Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday took a jab at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s call to India’s Gen Z to play a decisive role in stopping the alleged vote theft. Speaking at the 2025 India Today Conclave Mumbai, a flagship event of the India Today Group, Fadnavis said that “whoever is in love with Nepal, can stay there.”
“The young people of India do not have the time to protest. On Gen Z thinks different. Rahul Gandhi does not have anyone else to bring down the government. His appeal to Gen Z will not work,” the Chief Minister replied after he was asked by India Today’s Managing Editor Marya Shakeel to comment on the opposition’s call to the nation’s Gen Z population to carry out something massive like the recent protests in Nepal that toppled the previous KP Sharma Oli-led government.
“Those who have such affection for Nepal can go and live there,” Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis hits out at Rahul.
The two-day 2025 India Today Conclave Mumbai is taking place at The St. Regis Mumbai. It will bring together a stellar lineup of leaders, visionaries, and changemakers for two days of conversation and discussion.
Shortly after his second round of vote fraud allegations last week, Rahul Gandhi appealed to the country’s students and the Gen Z, those born between 1997 to 2012, to protect the nation’s democracy. He pledged to stand by them in their fight against alleged vote theft.
Further in his comments, the Maharashtra Chief Minister acknowledged the historic ties between Nepal and India, but said that the two neighbours are very different today.
“India has made huge developments, becoming the fourth-largest economy in the world. The young people of our nation work in startup ecosystems, as well as in sectors like AI, engineering and biotechnology. The young people of India have taken over the world,” he noted.
Fadnavis added that Rahul Gandhi is stunned that, despite all the lies and tricks, there seems to be no one to help him.
“Rahul Gandhi wants to appeal to the Gen Z because he still thinks that someone is still out there who can remove the ruling government from power. But for the Gen Z, I do not want to say on national television what Rahul Gandhi’s importance is,” he stressed.
MAHAYUTI WILL FIGHT 2029 POLLS TOGETHER
In the next Lok Sabha elections, as well as the Maharashtra Assembly which will take place in 2029, Fadnavis made it clear that the Mahayuti alliance comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Party (NCP), will fight together. When asked if there was a possibility of changing alliance partners, the Chief Minister said, “This is not a possibility right now. The time when partners could have been changed or remained, they thought of something different. When it comes to the political scenario in Maharashtra, I always go with this caveat that ‘nothing is impossible’.”
“But the state has reached a point now where there is no need for a change. In 2029, the Shinde Sena, Ajit Pawar’s NCP and the BJP will contests the polls together,” he asserted.
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