On April 8, Congress leader and former Congress MP Rahul Gandhi alleged links between five former Congress leaders, including former Congress leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, with businessman Gautam Adani in a tweet. Ghulam Nabi Azad has refuted Rahul Gandhi’s allegations stating that he does not have links with any business, however, Gandhi family has links with undesirable businessman.
Ghulam Nabi Azad alleged that Rahul Gandhi would meet with undesirable businessman during his visit to foreign countries. He said, “It is shameful that Rahul Gandhi is saying this. Their entire family has, all along, had an association with businessmen. That includes him (Rahul Gandhi). I have a great respect for the family. I can give you ten examples of where he would go and meet, even outside the country, to meet people who are undesirable businessmen,” in his interview with Asianet.
Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “They hide the truth, that’s why they mislead everyday! The question remains the same – who has ₹20,000 crore benami money in Adani’s companies?” with an image of Adani Group’s logo as an acronym with names of five former Congress leaders, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiran Kumar Reddy, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Anil Antony, insinuating links between them.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used Ghulam Nabi Azad’s comments to question Rahul Gandhi about his alleged links with undesirable businessman. The BJP tweeted, “Rahul Gandhi must explain who are these businessmen he meets and for what purpose?” from their official Twitter handle.
Furthermore, BJP leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that a defamation case will be filed against Rahul Gandhi once Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from Assam. He said that the case will be filed against Rahul Gandhi on April 14.
He said, “Whatever Rahul Gandhi has tweeted is a defamatory tweet, once Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes back from Assam, there will be a defamatory case filed against him (Rahul Gandhi) after April 14,” during a press conference. “Definitely, a defamation case will be filed in Guwahati,” he added.
Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “Lots of people say that Rahul Gandhi’s clout has increased after the Bharat Jodo Yatra. I was also under that impression like many in the country. But during the past 10 days, I realised he has zero clout,” claiming that he does not agree that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has benefitted Congress.
“In 1978, Mrs Gandhi was disqualified and jailed. Within a few hours, more than one lakh people went to jail. Ten lakh people were waiting outside the jail because there was no space in the jail. Ten thousand people accompanied me and took a protest march to Parliament. I was in Tihar Jail for about a month.
Now, Rahul Gandhi, immediately after the Bharat Jodo Yatra, is disqualified and jailed, not even a mosquito has cried or come onto the road. He had to go to Surat court accompanied by working committee members from Delhi, MPs from Delhi and MLAs from Gujarat. Not a single youth or farmer from Gujarat joined,” he added.
Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “I don’t feel very happy to see the Congress go down the drain because of the folly of some half-a-dozen people who are not interested in the future of the party; they are only interested in their own projection in the media and public.”
Furthermore, he claimed that the younger Congress leaders are more frustrated with Rahul Gandhi compared to older leaders and said, “Most of those who left were part of Rahul Gandhi’s team. They left because of the lack of leadership and direction from Rahul Gandhi.”
He claimed that BJP has become the only national party due to Congress’s leadership and said, “They have sat like ducks and not doing anything. Rather, they have been doing things that will help the BJP. It is the present leadership of the Congress that s promoting the BJP.”
