Indian politics overseas: Khalistan supporters heckle Rahul Gandhi at an event
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi was on Tuesday heckled by a group of Khalistan supporters, who shouted slogans against him and briefly interrupted his speech during an event in the US state of California, the media reported on Wednesday.
The incident occurred when Gandhi, who lost his Lok Sabha membership recently after the courts disqualified him in a defamation case, was speaking at the Mohabbat Ki Dukaan event organized by the Indian Overseas Congress-USA (IOC-USA) in Santa Clara, California.
India-born technocrat Sam Pitroda, who heads the IOC-USA, organized the event.
As Gandhi spoke, some people from the audience shouted slogans against him and the Gandhi family in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi and elsewhere in India after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Responding to them, Gandhi smiled and said: “Welcome, welcome … nafrat ke bazaar main mohabbat ki dukan.”
The 52-year-old leader then joined his supporters in the audience and responded with Bharat Jodo slogans.
“The interesting thing about us, about the Congress party is that we have affection towards everybody. If someone wants to come and say something regardless of what they are saying, we are happy to listen to them.
“We are not going to get angry, we are not going to get aggressive. We will nicely listen to it. In fact, we will be affectionate to them, will be loving to them. Because that’s our nature,” he said.
Gandhi arrived in the US on Tuesday on a three-city tour during which he will interact with the Indian diaspora and meet American lawmakers.
