Rahul Gandhi says being disqualified as MP has invigorated him politically
Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he is not seeking any support from foreign countries in the fight to preserve and advance democracy in India — which he has suggested is under threat from the ruling BJP — while asserting it is his right to engage Indians abroad.
In a talk at Stanford University’s Center for Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law on Wednesday, Gandhi appeared to push back at criticism that he was denigrating India abroad with his censure of the ruling party in India, saying the BJP is twisting the issue.
“I am not seeking support from anyone. I am very clear that our fight is our fight… There is a group of young students from India here and I want to have a relationship with them and talk to them. It is my right to do it. I don’t understand why Prime Minister Modi cannot do it… answer some hard questions,” Gandhi said, alluding to criticism of Modi’s apparent reluctance to engage in such forums.
Gandhi also addressed for the first time the issue of his disqualification as a member of parliament — a consequence of a defamation case — saying it was beyond anything he had imagined when he entered politics, but suggested it had invigorated him politically.
Characterising the disqualification as a “criminal punishment” and “maximum punishment,” he said it had actually given him “a huge opportunity… probably much bigger than the opportunity I would have (without such disqualification). That’s just the way politics works.”
“I think the drama started really, about six months ago. We were struggling. The entire opposition is struggling in India. Huge financial dominance….institutional capture (by the BJP) We’re struggling to fight the democratic fight in our country,” he explained, adding that at this point in time, he decided to go for the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
Gandhi found a sympathetic and appreciative audience at the event, leading Congress Party supporters to project it as a rousing success — despite poor media outreach — even as BJP partisans characterised the trip as a trainwreck and cast aspersions on its purpose and its sponsors.
In a Q&A session, Gandhi broadly agreed the Modi government’s approach of continuing ties with Russia despite criticism from the west. He also described India’s current ties with China as “rough” saying “they’ve occupied some of our territory,” but “India cannot be pushed around.”
In a separate engagement, Gandhi also sat through a discussion on artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning at the Plug and Play auditorium along with Indian Overseas Congress chairperson Sam Pitroda, who helped his father Rajiv Gandhi usher in the telecom revolution in India in the 1980s. Participating in a fireside chat with Plug and Play Tech Centre CEO and Founder Saeed Amidi and Shaun Shankaran, founder of FixNix Startup, he evinced keen interest in the technologies and the impact it could have on the common man in India.
According to PTI, at one point during the discussion, Gandhi spoke of his phone possibly being tapped, and said “Hello, Mr Modi!” into his phone.
Data is the new gold and countries like India have realized the real potential of it, Gandhi said, adding, “There is need to have appropriate regulations on data safety and security.”
The Congress leader is scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon in Washington DC, where he will address a newsmaker event at the National Press Club — venue of a famous episode in which his father Rajiv Gandhi smacked down on Khalistani protestors, remind them that “when there was a kingdom of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, his capital was Lahore.”
