Striking a combative note over his disqualification from the Lok Sabha, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the development would not deter him from asking questions about the relationship between Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and businessman Gautam Adani.
Addressing a crowded press conference at the AICC headquarters a day after his disqualification from the Lok Sabha was notified, Rahul said the development as a panic reaction of the BJP and the “best gift they could give me”.
“I have been disqualified because the Prime Minister is scared of my next speech that is going to come on Adani. Modi does not want it to be in Parliament. They first tried distraction and then came disqualification,” he said.
“This is a panic reaction by the BJP. They have given the biggest weapon in the hands of the opposition... the people know Adani is corrupt and that the Prime Minister is protecting him,” he further said.
Rahul also used the occasion to declare that he would again embark on a Bharat Jodo Yatra. “Rahul Gandhi will go on a Bharat Jodo Yatra for four-and-a-half months and by doing so will be in the midst of the people. I will keep doing my work,” he said in response to a question on what will be his plan of action hereon.
The Congress leader was at pains to stress that the disqualification was a result of the questions that he has asked about the relations between Modi and Adani.
He said the disqualification was an effort to distract from the questions, especially the Rs 20,000 crore that was invested in Adani's companies, about which he has sought responses from the Prime Minister.
He said the disqualification was a culmination of a process that began with the expunction of the speech that he had made in the Lok Sabha in February, after which BJP ministers had on the floor of the house allegedly levelled false accusations against him with regard to his comments made during his trip to the UK.
He said he was not given a chance to respond in Parliament to the allegations made by the ministers. “When I met the Lok Sabha Speaker and sought a chance to speak in the Lok Sabha, he merely smiled and said he could not do it. He said come have tea with me,” he said.
“I will not stop asking questions about the relationship between Narendra Modi and Gautam Adani, and about the Rs 20,000 crore that was invested in Adani's companies. That money does not belong to Adani,” he said.
About the BJP's demands that he apologised for his remarks in London as also his refusal to apologise in the Surat court, he said, My name is not Savarkar. I do not apologise.”
Seeking to project an aggressive face in the light of the developments that could jeopardise his chances of contesting the coming Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi said, “They can disqualify me, beat me, throw me in jail. But they will not succeed in shutting me up. That has not been my history. I will keep fighting for India's democracy.” He described his “pursuit of truth” as a “tapasysa”, saying he will continue to it.
He rejected the idea that he had insulted OBCs through the comment for which the Surat court has convicted him of defamation. “During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, all I spoke about is that there should be no hatred, there should be no violence. That is my position,” he said.
To a question about the reaction of the people of the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency which he represented before he was disqualified, Gandhi said he will write a letter to them.
