Rahul Gandhi yet again landed in a swamp. A video has been going around on social media where he was seen enjoying himself in a nightclub in Nepal. There are staunch claims that he was spotted with a Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi.
Triggering war of words
First to make the claim was YRS Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vijayasai Reddy. BJP’s social media department head Amit Malviya and Union minister Giriraj Singh were also among those who tweeted the video. Many of the prominent faces compared PM Modi’s visits vis a vis Congress leader’s visits and lambasted each other.
However, several reports and INC refuted the claims made by the BJP. Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said, “Rahul Gandhi is in Kathmandu to attend the wedding of his friend. He is on a personal visit there. Why are they [BJP] not answering the questions related to the power crisis, inflation but they have all the time in the world for Rahul Gandhi.”
In the fact-check, India Today had claimed that Rahul Gandhi visited the nightclub on May 2 along with five or six people. The report also stated that no Chinese ambassador was present along with Gandhi during his visit Telangana Congress President and Congress MP Revanth Reddy just exposed and
stunningly admitted that the mysterious lady seen with Rahul Gandhi in the Kathmandu nightclub was indeed a Chinese ambassador.
He also confirmed that Rahul Gandhi had gone to Nepal to attend the wedding of his family friend Sumnima Udas, a former CNN journalist known for propagating antiIndia views. During his trip, Rahul Gandhi attended a dinner party, where he was seen with a woman, who the Congress leader confirmed was the Chinese Ambassador. Revanth Reddy is believed to be a very close aide to Rahul Gandhi, and the recent admission by the Telangana leader will put the Congress party in an embarrassing situation as the party had claimed that he was on a personal visit to Nepal and not on a political visit.
This is not the first time when Rahul Gandhi has been caught red-handed meeting with the Chinese Ambassador, even during the sensitive Doklam crisis in 2017, he met with such a delegation. But, when Rahul Gandhi came under the radar, he took a U- turn by saying it his job to be informed on critical issues. If that were case, why did he and his party refused to admit anything initially?
A Glance at Hou Yanqi and Controversies Surrounding her
Hou Yanqi was appointed as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic Of China to Nepal in 2018. Experts believe that relations between India and Nepal have deteriorated in recent times since Yanqi became the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal. China has been
investing in Nepal through targeted tourism, post-earthquake reconstruction as well as investing in the nation’s a trade and energy resources.
Yanqi also was criticized by several Nepali journalists after she publicly bashed the then editor of Kathmandu Post, Anup Kafle, when he published an article titled ‘China’s secrecy has made coronavirus crisis much worse.’ She is even accused for bribing the Nepali government personnels as well. For several sceptics this situation is ‘my words against yours’ and vice-versa as they give a blind eye to the situation. Also the Chinese did not refute the claims that were made regarding this instance. Even after fact-check reports emerging there are contradictions surrounding this incident.
