New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is at the receiving end for his unsparing criticism of Modi government during his speech at Cambridge University. From referring to presence of ‘deep state’ in the country and praise of China, Rahul made quite a controversial points that has enraged political rivals back home. BJP hit back at the Gandhi scion for ‘spoiling the image’ of country from a foreign land.
Rahul Gandhi was speaking at the ‘Ideas for India’ conference in United Kingdom.
However, it’s not just BJP but someone in the audience also expressed reservation over Gandhi’s statement. Siddhartha Verma, an Indian civil servant countered the Congress leader over his idea of India and objected to his reference to India as ‘group of states’.
Taking to Twitter, the civil servant shared a video in which he could be seen confronting the Congress leader over latter’s statement that India was a result of the ‘negotiation of states’.
“Yesterday, in Cambridge, I questioned Mr. Rahul Gandhi on his statement that “India is not a nation but a Union of States”, said the Indian civil servant who is also Commonwealth Scholar in Public Policy at the University of Cambridge.
The Cambridge scholar said that India is a nation and the same has been mentioned in the Preamble of Constitution.
Yesterday, in Cambridge, I questioned Mr. Rahul Gandhi on his statement that “India is not a nation but a Union of States”. He asserted that India is not a nation but the result of negotiation between states. (His complete response will be shared once uploaded by organisers) pic.twitter.com/q5KluwenMf
— Siddhartha Verma (@Sid_IRTS) May 24, 2022
In a direct address to Gandhi, Verma also raised questions over whether his idea of India was not only “flawed” but also “destructive” as it seemed to “whitewash a history which was thousands of years old”.
Responding to him, Gandhi said that “Rashtra is a kingdom.”
“No, Rashtra is the Sanskrit of (the word) nation,” officer says.
Siddharth Verma said informed that full statement/response of Gandhi will be shared as & when it is uploaded by the organisers.
