'Didn't speak against India': Rahul Gandhi amid UK remarks row

Senior Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that he did not say anything against India during his United Kingdom (UK) visit earlier this month, reported Hindustan Times. Speaking in the Parliament amid uproar over his remarks, Gandhi said, "I didn't speak anything anti-India (in London seminar). If they will allow I will speak inside the Parliament."

• Gandhi, who visited the UK earlier this month, made several comments against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including at Cambridge University, where he claimed India's democracy was under threat and urged Western nations, such as the United States (US), to intervene.
• His remarks drew widespread criticism, with the BJP demanding an apology from the Congress leader.

In response to Gandhi's comments, BJP accused him of insulting India on foreign soil. "Rahul Gandhi, in his speeches, has sought to shame India's democracy, polity, parliament, political system, and judicial system," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in his address in the Lok Sabha on Monday, said that the Congress MP should "apologize before the House."

Meanwhile, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said there was no question of an apology over Gandhi's statement. He added that those demanding an apology must answer on Prime Minister Narendra Modi "humiliating" Indians with his remarks abroad. "Democracy is diminishing here, freedom of expression and speech are being weakened... If this is not the process of ending democracy then what is?" Kharge stated.