Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is on his three-city US tour and the first leg of meeting with the Indian diaspora in San Francisco, he interacted with the students at the campus of the globally-renowned Stanford University in California during which he opened up about getting disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP in the wake of a conviction in the case of criminal defamation, that was filed after his speech against Narendra Modi in 2019. 

Interacting with the students, Rahul Gandhi said that he was the first person to be awarded a maximum sentence for defamation and that he had never imagined that something like this could happen. He said, "I don't think when I joined politics in 2004, I ever imagined what I see going on in our country. It was way outside what I had ever imagined." 

He further said, "I was the first person to be given a criminal sentence for defamation and the maximum sentence to be disqualified from the Parliament. I didn't imagine something like this was possible. But I think it has given me a huge opportunity, probably much bigger than the opportunity I would have gotten sitting in the Parliament, that's just the way politics works." 

Speaking about the struggle endured by the Opposition parties in India, the Congress leader said, "The drama started six months ago. We were struggling, the Opposition is struggling in India. A huge financial dominance, institutional capture, struggling to fight the Democratic fight in our country. None of the systems were working. Democracy isn't just about an opposition party. It's about several institutions that support the opposition. Those institutions were either captured or were not playing the role they were supposed to play." 

By citing about the Opposition's fight for democracy, Rahul Gandhi said that it was when he decided to launch the nationwide rally - Bharat Jodo Yatra. "I am very clear, our fight is ours fight. But there is a group of young students from India here. I want to have a relationship with them and want to talk to them. It's my right to do it", he added. 

The Congress leader has also emphasised that he is not seeking support from anybody during these foreign trips. He said, "I don't understand why the Prime Minister doesn't come here and do it." Responding to his remark, the moderator said that the Prime Minister is welcome to come to Stanford anytime and interact with the students and academicians. 

On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi had addressed 'Mohabbat Ki Dukaan' event in San Francisco in the United States during which he interacted about Modi's flawed leadership and his treatment of minorities. Attacking Modi on his self-glorifying saga, Rahul Gandhi said, "Leaders like Guru Nanak ji, Basavanna ji, Gandhi ji, they emphasised that not to be under impression that you know everything. The world is too big, too complicated for any one person to think that he understands everything and he knows everything. So, that is the disease that we have a group of people in India who are absolutely convinced that they know everything." 

"In fact, I think they think may be they know even more than God. They could sit down with the God and have a conversation and explain to him about what is going on and of course, our Prime Minister is one such specimen. I think if you sat Modi ji down next to God, Modi ji would start explaining to God how the Universe works and God would get confused that what have I created. These are funny things but really this is what is going on. At of heart of it is mediocrity that they actually don't understand anything", Rahul Gandhi stated. 

Relive the captivating moments as Shri @RahulGandhi graced the stage at Stanford University for an unforgettable interactive session. pic.twitter.com/IbcaPQ3o8y

— Congress (@INCIndia) June 1, 2023