Fight for democracy will go on, disqualified for life or jailed: Rahul Gandhi

NSUI workers being detained by the police during a protest in Lucknow. PIC/PTI

Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that even if he is disqualified permanently from Parliament or jailed, he would keep defending the country's democratic nature. He claimed that a "panic-stricken" government has handed the Opposition a "weapon" with the move to disqualify him. The former Congress chief was addressing a presser after being disqualified from Lok Sabha.

"My name is not Savarkar, my name is Gandhi and Gandhi does not offer an apology to anyone," he further said, responding to a query on repeated calls by the BJP seeking his apology over various issues. He said that he had made appeals to be allowed to speak in the Parliament but was not given permission.

"Wrote to the Speaker twice, then went to him personally and said ‘you are the protector of democracy, allow me to speak', he smiles and says ‘I can't do it'. If you cannot do it, who can do it, I may have to go to Modi ji then but he will not allow me to speak," Gandhi said.

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"So, my point is that, democracy is finished in this country, people cannot speak what is on their minds, institutions in this country are being attacked and the mechanism of that attack is the relationship between Narendra Modi and Adani," the Congress leader said. He will keep asking questions on the Adani issue, Gandhi said.

Meanwhile, several states including Wayanad witnessed strong protests from Congress workers. The latter saw burning of an effigy of PM Modi by Congress workers and its youth and student wings.

Sis to rescue

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said that the voice of the people cannot be suppressed and the questions raised by Rahul Gandhi will now resonate across the country. "When the public servant elected by the people raised questions on their behalf, the Adani-servant conspired to suppress his voice," she tweeted.

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