Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre and said that irrespective of the attacks the ruling party unleashes at him, the former MP is not going to stop from raising the issues of the public, and nobody can stop him from representing his erstwhile Lok Sabha constituency Wayanad.
He was addressing a public meeting at Wayanad, after holding a road show in the constituency along with his sister and party leader Priyanka Gandhi. “Now when I am not an MP, I thought about what it means to be an MP. It means to be a people representative. For that, you have to understand the emotions, sufferings, and difficulties of the people. You should have the ability to touch and treat people like equals, and at times as your superiors. So, a true representative of people develops by giving things that you desire, by fighting for what the people desire, by becoming less arrogant and more humble,” he said while addressing the people at Wayanad.
This is his first visit to his erstwhile Lok Sabha constituency Wayanad after his disqualification from Lok Sabha as a court in Surat convicted him in a defamation case on the ‘Modi surname’ remark.
Spelling out the job of an MP, he said, the main task of the member of Parliament is to raise the issues of the people without fear.
Terming the position of MP as just a “Tag”, he said, “MP is just a tag, a position, a post. BJP can take away my tag, my position, my house, or put me in jail, but they cannot stop me from representing the people of Wayanad. To represent the people of Wayanad, means to represent their issues. There are practical things, buffer zone, night roads, and medical colleges. And I will keep on working on these issues. Don’t think that if I am not an MP, they have disqualified me, and our relationship has ended. Not for 3-4 years, not for my entire life, my relationship won’t be changed,” he said.
The former MP said that he finds it surprising that BJP has not been able to “understand” their opponent even after so many years.
“I have been fighting out the BJP for quite some years. And it surprises me, that in so many years they have been unable to understand their opponent. They do not understand that their opponent will not be intimidated. They think that sending police to my house will make me scared, taking away my house will make me disturbed. I was actually happy, that they took away my house. It was not interesting for me to live in that house. I saw hundreds of hundreds of people losing their house in Wayanad during the floods,” Rahul Gandhi said.
He further added, “Seize my house 50 times, but I will continue to raise the issues of the people of Wayanad and the people of India. You make people fight, and you abuse and threaten people, I will keep fighting for the people and respecting every single community, religion and idea. You continue to be as nasty and evil as you want, and I will continue to be as kind as I can. Because this is a fight between two visions of India. So, we are not scared of your intimidation, in fact, we find it quite amusing”.
He further alleged that he was not asked to speak in parliament, and accused the BJP leaders of “lying” about him.
“I went to Parliament and asked the Prime minister some questions about a businessman. I asked Mr Modi please explain your relationship with Mr Adani. I showed how the defence relationship between India and Israel was transformed, and the rules of the airports were changed, to help Mr Adani. The Prime Minister did not answer. The first time you saw, the government himself not allowing the Parliament to function,” Rahul Gandhi said.
The former Congress President added that the more BJP attacks him, the more he will continue to walk on the right path.
“The rule is that if anyone says anything about an MP, he has the right to reply. I went to Speaker with that rule, also but still, I was not allowed to speak. And because the government was uncomfortable with the type of issues I raise, I was removed from the Parliament. Doesn’t matter, it is the biggest gift that you can give me. Because now, I know that if BJP is attacking me, taking my house, and removing me from Parliament, I am doing the right thing. I am not going to stop,” he added.