Backlash Over Cambridge Varsity Speech Continues, RaGa to Now Address UK Parl, Meet Indian Diaspora

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s 10-day visit to the UK has already created a stir. The leader will be in London for three days where he address the British Parliament, meet Indian diaspora, and address a press conference organised by the Indian Journalist Association, among other engagements.

Gandhi, who has come under fire from the ruling BJP for his lecture at Cambridge University, will be in London from March 4-6 and apart from speaking at the British Parliament and interacting with Indian diaspora, he will address a press conference organised by the Indian Journalist Association, hold private business meetings and give a talk at well-known London think tank, Chatham House, as per India Today.

Gandhi is accompanied by Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) head, Sam Pitroda, who said that his London visit is just an “attachment” to his Cambridge University trip where he gave a presentation earlier this week, as per India Today. 

UK Parl Address, Indian Diaspora Meet

Rahul Gandhi will deliver an address in the UK Parliament in the Grand Committee Room of the Palace of Westminster on March 6. “The debate is not limited to a political future, but must embrace the cultural, social and business ties that bind both countries, as the people are the living bridge,” said Chair of the Indo-British APPG and Indian-origin MP Virendra Sharma, who has arranged the parliament event, as per the India Today report.

Gandhi will also interact with about 2,000 members of the Indian diaspora community in London, the report said. Additionally, he might also meet the Labour Party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, David Lammy. However, there is no official confirmation yet, the report said.

BJP Slams Gandhi for Cambridge Address

Gandhi, who is a Visiting Fellow at the Cambridge Judge Business School (Cambridge JBS), delivered the lecture to students at the university on the subject of ‘Learning to Listen in the 21st Century’.

During the lecture, he said that Indian democracy is under attack and several politicians, including himself, are under surveillance.

Referring to the controversial Pegasus snooping issue, Gandhi alleged that the Israeli spyware was installed on the phones of a large number of politicians, including him.

This drew a sharp reaction from the BJP who said that the Congress leader was “hallucinating” and makes such claims as he wants to create headlines wherever he goes.

“What we can say for Rahul Gandhi’s hallucinations. If he makes his (Congress) MoU with China public, we will be interested and people of India will also like to know. Who is interested in his telephonic conversations,” BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan told reporters.

Rebuking the claims made by Gandhi in his lecture, BJP’s Sambit Patra said, “Rahul sees China’s Yellow River but he does not pay any heed to Ma Ganga…he says he has Pegasus in his phone but he did not submit his phone for investigation.”

Under Fire for China Remark

The Chinese value harmony in society, as much as the Americans value individual liberties, Gandhi said at his Cambridge lecture. These comments are now facing attacks from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over Rahul Gandhi being ‘soft’ on China at a time when India is engaged in a stand-off with China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since 2020.

“The way the Americans value individual liberty, the Chinese value harmony. Individual liberty is not central to China’s idea, their idea is much more about society being in harmony because they have had massive tremors, they have a huge amounts of pain, a cultural revolution, civil war…what they don’t want is that things go out of control, to spiral out of control and disorder coming…which is legitimate, which is as legitimate for them as individual liberty is to US,” Gandhi said at Cambridge University.

Reacting to this, BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya said, “Rahul Gandhi, in a brazen manner, justifies China’s authoritarianism, says Chinese value societal harmony.”

The BJP also put out a video saying ‘Congress-China Bhai Bhai’. Gandhi has said that China today dominates production and he had spoken to senior leaders of China too.

BJP Leader Rajyavardhan Rathore slammed him as a “Chinese agent”.

“Rahul Gandhi, you look at India as a Chinese agent, so your heart is not able to accept the growing power of the country. The #Galwan valley for which you were humiliating the country and the army, our soldiers are playing cricket there. This scene is exposing the lie you told on border security,” he wrote in a tweet in Hindi.

Assam CM’s Point-by-point Rebuttal

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that the Lok Sabha MP’s speech at Cambridge University is a brazen attempt to denigrate India on foreign soil in the guise of targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a series of tweets, Sarma presented “facts” in his 10-point rebuttal, contradicting Gandhi’s remarks from the speech.

Hitting out over the former Congress chief’s “Indian democracy is under threat” remark, the Assam CM said he travelled 4,000 km in his yatra incident-free under the protection provided by the Modi government.

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