Rahul Gandhi Attacks Modi, Claims his Disqualification to be a “Panic Reaction” from PM
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 25: A combative former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday tore into the BJP and Narendra Modi training his guns on the alleged relationship the prime minister had with the industrialist Gautam Adani and said he would not stop talking about the unholy relationship even if he was disqualified as a Member of Parliament for life or jailed.
In the first press conference since his removal as a member of the Lok Sabha on Friday, Rahul Gandhi claimed that his disqualification, targetted attack over his remarks, the portrayal of him as anti-OBC were all being done to keep people distracted from the Adani issue.
“I had only asked one question, Adani ji has shell companies, in which ₹20,000 crore was invested, this was not his money. The question is, who does this money belong to?” he asked. He said he had tabled proof in Parliament on the Modi – Adani relationship but his remarks were expunged.
Gandhi said all the drama about seeking his apology for his alleged anti-India comments in London and leading to his disqualification were because of the Prime Minister was “scared” and did not want him to make another speech on his relationship with Adani on the floor of the House. His ouster from Parliament, he said, was a “panic reaction” by Modi, who is “scared” and did not want him to make yet another speech on the “relationship” between the Prime Minister and industrialist Gautam Adani in the House.
Rahul said things had been set in motion a few weeks ago, after his speech in Parliament on the Adani issue. He said the BJP “started its work” after that speech. “My speech was expunged. I wrote a letter to the Speaker with a detailed explanation on the defence industry, on the airports (projects awarded to Adani), with press clippings, supporting documents, legal documents, and said this is the supporting foundation of my speech… I have not invented this, this is detailed research, here it is… Nothing happened,” he said.
“My speech today is not part of the record of Parliament… After that, BJP ministers lied about me in Parliament. They made statements to distract from the Adani issue. The whole game… disqualification and all these statements are to distract from a central question: whose money is it, the Rs 20,000 crore? The whole thing is to distract. They said I have asked foreign forces to help India. The most ridiculous statement. I have never made such a statement, you can look at the conversations I had in the UK… Not one such statement was made. In fact, I said this is India’s problem and India has to resolve this problem,” he said.
Gandhi said he had sent a detailed letter to the Speaker about how rules were amended to give Adani airports but there was no response from the Speaker. “My speech was expunged. I sent a detailed letter to the Speaker, detailing how rules were amended to give Mr. Adani airports. There was no response from the Speaker,” he said.
“Instead, the Ministers were making false charges against me. I wrote to Speaker, asking him to allow me to counter these false charges. I even met him, asking him why am I not allowed to speak. He smiled in response and said I can’t allow you to speak,” the Congress leader said. “A minister lies on the floor of the House. I wrote to the Speaker. I said it is my right as an MP when somebody makes an accusation to state my position. Let me state my position. The first letter is not answered. I then write a second letter with more details, taking the names and what was said. Still, no answer. I then went to the Speaker’s chamber, asked him what was going on, that ‘We live in a democracy, you are the defender of that democracy, why are you not letting me make my statement?’. The Speaker smiled and said, ‘I cannot do that, come and have a cup of coffee with me’,” Rahul said.
“So this is the whole drama that is being orchestrated to defend the Prime Minister from the simple question… whose Rs 20,000 crore went to Mr Adani’s shell companies,” he said.
Stating that “democracy is finished in this country,” he said, “The people of the country cannot speak what is on their mind and the institutions are under attack. The mechanism of that attack is the relationship between Narendra Modi and Adani. That is the foundation,” he said.
The Congress leader said it made no difference to him whether he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha for some years, or permanently, and that he would not stop asking questions about the PM’s “relationship” with Adani. “Disqualify me, disqualify me for life. Put me inside jail. I will keep going. I will not stop,” he said. He had been disqualified because the “Prime Minister is scared of my next speech in Parliament… he is terrified. They don’t want that speech in Parliament,” he added.
“Do I look worried to you?” Rahul retorted, when asked if he was anxious about the political relevance of the Opposition. “I am excited. I am happy that these people have given me the best gift they could give me,” he said, calling his disqualification the biggest ammunition for the Opposition.
“When somebody is guilty of something, they want to distract everybody’s attention. If you catch a thief, the first thing he says is that I didn’t do it. The second thing he says is, ‘look there, look there, look there, look there’. That is what the BJP is doing. We have caught Rs 20,000 crore going into Mr Adani’s companies. Nobody knows whose money that is. That money cannot be Mr Adani’s money… he does not generate this type of money. So that money has come from someone. All this… claim of OBC bias, disqualification, anti-national is to distract from the panic that the Prime Minister is feeling. That his relationship with Mr Adani is going to be exposed. Let me tell you that the relationship is going to be exposed. Nobody is going to stop that. It is going to happen because the Opposition is not going to give up until we find an answer,” he said.
Rahul added that the charge that his speech asking “why all thieves have the Modi surname”, which led to his conviction, insulted the OBC community had no basis as in his Bharat Jodo Yatra, he had consistently talked of harmony among all communities.
On his alleged anti-India remarks in London, Gandhi said he had never made a statement seeking intervention from foreign powers. “In fact, I said, this is India’s problem and we shall deal with it,” he said. “BJP leaders claimed that I am helping anti-India forces. I told the Speaker that it is my right to respond to these allegations. But he didn’t allow me,” he said. “I have only one step and that’s to fight for truth and to defend democratic nature of this country. Disqualify me for life, jail me for life, I will continue going.”
Asked about the BJP’s response that his conviction was a decision of the court, and followed “due process of law”, the Congress leader said he did not want to talk about the legal aspects of the case. “I respect India’s legal system. I will not talk about the legal system at this press conference,” he said.
On even Congress rivals speaking out against his disqualification and whether it was time for the Opposition to unite, Rahul said: “I thank all the Opposition parties who supported me on this issue. Hum sab milke kaam karenge (We will all work together).”
Rahul added: “I am here defending the democratic voice of the Indian people. I will continue to do that. I am not scared of these threats, of these disqualifications, of these allegations, of these prison sentences. I don’t care. I am not scared of them. These people don’t understand me yet… I am not scared of them. They are used to ever
Within hours of Gandhi’s charges against Modi, the BJP doubled down its attack on the Congress leader and reiterated its claim that Gandhi insulted Other Backward Communities (OBCs) with his remark on the Modi surname. “He is not the only one, 32 leaders have been disqualified across the country, including six from the BJP. The Congress is trying to project Rahul Gandhi as a victim for electoral gains in Karnataka,” said former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
“There’s an allegation (on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha after being sentenced in a 2019 defamation case) that he is being framed. It has nothing to do with the Adani-Hindenburg issue,” Prasad said, dismissing Mr Gandhi’s suggestion that his questions on corruption allegations against the Adani group was the real reason he was disqualified.
Calling Rahul Gandhi’s accusations ‘fake’ and ‘baseless’, Prasad said he, out of habit, tried to distract from the issue at hand, and made false remarks. “Rahul Gandhi insulted people from marginalised communities. If he has the right to do that, the aggrieved also have the right to approach the court. The court asked if he would apologise and he refused. The verdict came after that,” he said, adding that the Modi community was deeply pained at Mr Gandhi “calling them thieves.”
Rahul Gandhi intentionally insulted Other Backward Classes (OBC) and the BJP condemns it, he said, informing that his party would launch an intensive agitation against Gandhi for his remarks.
Prasad further questioned why the Congress, which has an army of top lawyers, didn’t go to the Surat sessions court for a stay. “Why did they not go to the High Court or Supreme Court. In their party spokesperson Pawan Khera’s case, they got a stay from the Supreme Court within an hour. Why were their lawyers silent on Rahul Gandhi’s case. The BJP wants to raise this question,” he said, accusing the grand old party of intentionally not asking for a stay in order to use this issue in the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections.
This is a carefully planned strategy, to make it look like Rahul Gandhi sacrificed his position, to benefit from it in Karnataka, Prasad said. The former union minister also charged Gandhi with having been “abusive, not critical” in his utterances about the Modi surname which led to the defamation suit.
