My name is not Savarkar, it is Gandhi and Gandhi won't apologise: Defiant Rahul slams BJP

Rahul said that neither jail, nor disqualification would silence him and he will keep asking the tough questions

A combative Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that he was disqualified from Lok Sabha because a panicky Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scared about his “next speech” in Parliament on the Adani Group and such actions have resulted in giving a “big weapon” to the Opposition.

He refused to heed to BJP’s demand for an apology for his remarks on ‘Modis’ that led to his conviction and subsequent disqualification from Lok Sabha on Friday as well as his ‘democracy in danger’ statement, with a remark that “I am not Savarkar (and) my name is Gandhi”.

Rahul did not find in merit in allegations that he has insulted the OBCs by referring to Modi in his controversial speech, saying “all this OBC, disqualification, anti-national” is to “distract” from the “panic” felt by Modi as his relationship with Adani is going to be “exposed”.

Emphasising that the moot question at present is who has invested Rs 20,000 crore in Adani-owned shell companies, Rahul said he would continue to raise such questions as part of defending the democratic voice of the Indian people. “Disqualify me for life, put me inside jail, I will keep going. I will not stop,” he said.

Thanking Opposition leaders for supporting him, he felt that the non-BJP parties should work together. Rahul felt his disqualification was a “panic reaction” and “they have given the Opposition a big weapon now.” The “whole drama” is being “orchestrated” to defend Modi from the “simple question” of who is funded Adani’s shell companies.

During the 30-minute press conference with Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel among others on the dais and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at the venue, the recurring theme was Modi’s relationship with Adani and Rs 20,000 crore investments in Adani shell companies.

“Adani could not have generated this money. He is in the infrastructure business. Where did this money come from? Whose money is it?...Now the public knows that Adani is corrupt. The question that has arisen in the minds of people is why is the Prime Minister saving this corrupt person. Why is the whole BJP doing everything to save this person?” he said.

“The foundation of the attack on democracy is the relationship between Modi and Adani. I am not asking a question about Modi. I am asking a question about Adani. Why is the BJP protecting Adani?...You protect Adani because you are Adani,” the 52-year-old former MP said.

Claiming that Modi fears that the identity of the investors in Adani’s shell companies would be out soon, Rahul said he was disqualified because Modi was “scared of my next speech that is to come on Adani. I have seen it in his eyes. He is terrified…They don't want that speech to be in Parliament. That is the issue.”

For the BJP, he alleged, “Adani is country and country is Adani” while referring to some leaders defending the conglomerate when it faced allegations of fraud and stock manipulation, saying it was an attack on India.

He claimed that was why first the distraction through controversy over his remarks, which he said he did not make, and now the disqualification. He made it clear that Ministers “lied in Parliament” that he sought foreign intervention and he wanted to respond in Lok Sabha but was not allowed.

“I am not scared of these threats, of these disqualifications, allegations, prison sentences. I am not scared of them. These people don't understand me yet, I am not scared of them," Rahul said.

Asked whether he regrets his statement, he said he would not like to comment on it but added that whenever he makes a statement, he does it after much thought. To a similar question later, he said, “I am not Savarkar, My name is Gandhi. Gandhi does not seek apology from anyone.”