New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that he had not “imagined” to be disqualified from the Lok Sabha after joining politics. Gandhi, who is in the US for a three city tourHowever, he insisted that his disqualification as a Member of Parliament has given him a ‘greater opportunity’ to serve the people. The Wayanad (Kerala) MP was disqualified earlier this year after he was held guilty of criminal defamation by a Gujarat court over his ‘Modi surname’ remark in 2019.
Answering a series of questions from Indian students at the Stanford University campus in California, Rahul Gandhi said that when he joined politics in 2000, he never thought he would end up in this position. The former Congress chief said what he is seeing going on now is what he had thought about joining politics.
Rahul Gandhi said, “But then I think it has actually given me a bigger opportunity. Probably a bigger opportunity than the one I have now. That’s how politics works.”
Relive the captivating moments as Mr. @RahulGandhi graced the stage at Stanford University for an unforgettable interactive session. pic.twitter.com/IbcaPQ3o8y— Congress (@INCIndia) June 1, 2023
A court in Gujarat’s Surat convicted the four-time MP in a criminal defamation case on March 23 and sentenced him to two years in jail. two years in jail triggered his disqualification as a Lok Sabha member from the date of the judgment. However, Gandhi was granted bail to allow him to appeal to the High Court.
His disqualification from the Lok Sabha will bar him from contesting elections for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction.
Meanwhile, during an interaction with Indian students and Indian-origin academics at Stanford University, he emphasized that he was not seeking support from anyone during his frequent foreign trips like this.
Gandhi asked the audience, “I don’t understand why the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) doesn’t come here and do this,” to which the moderator said the PM was welcome to come to Stanford any time and interact with the students. Is. Educationist.
The former Congress president also talked about his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, which started from Kanyakumari on September 7 last year and passed through 12 states before ending in Jammu and Kashmir in January, and said he started it as The entire opposition in India is ‘struggling’ And that they are struggling to fight the ‘democratic battle’ in the country.
India-China relations are going to be ‘difficult’
During his interaction, Rahul Gandhi also said that India cannot be pushed around by China as he underlined that relations between the two neighbors are going to be ‘tough’ and not easy.
“How do you see India-China relations developing in the next 5-10 years?” Gandhi was asked, to which he replied, “It is difficult now. I mean, they have occupied some of our territory. It is difficult. It is not very easy (relationship).”
He said, “India cannot be pushed around. Nothing like this is going to happen.”
India and China are also locked in a lingering border standoff in eastern Ladakh for three years. Bilateral ties came under severe strain in June 2020 following a deadly clash in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley.
Will take ‘same stand’ as Modi govt on Russia-Ukraine war
Rahul Gandhi also supported the Narendra Modi-led government’s ‘neutral stand’ on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, despite feeling pressure from the West, and said India has to deal with the issue at the end of the day. In ‘have to look for your own interest’.
Asked whether he supported India’s neutral stand on Russia, Rahul Gandhi said, “We have relations with Russia, we have some dependencies on Russia. So, I will also have the same stand as the Government of India.”
He said that India is a very big country where it would normally have relations with other countries. He said that it is not so small and dependent that it will be related to one and not the other.
“We will always have this type of relationship. We will have better relations with some people, develop relations with others. So that balance is maintained,” Rahul said.
It is noteworthy that India has stayed away from the UN resolutions on Ukraine and has consistently underlined the need to respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.
However, India has also consistently underlined that in the ongoing conflict, the entire Global South has suffered ‘substantial collateral damage’ and that developing countries bear the brunt of the conflict’s consequences over food, fuel and fertilizer supplies. have been
He also supported a stronger relationship between India and the United States and underlined the importance of manufacturing and the two countries collaborating in emerging areas such as data and artificial intelligence.
Gandhi said that it is not enough to focus only on the security and defense aspect of this bilateral relationship.