From Doklam to 1984 Sikh riots: Highlights of Rahul Gandhi’s comments in London

 Addressing members of the Indian Overseas Congress, he said the prime minister insulted every Indian by saying that no development activity happened in the last 70 years.

"India shows the future to the world. The people of India made this possible, and the Congress helped them. If the prime minister says nothing had happened before he assumed office, he is not commenting on the Congress, he is insulting every person of the country," Gandhi said.

Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government on the multi-billion Rafale deal, Gandhi said that the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited had been manufacturing aircraft for the last 50 years, but the contract was given to "someone who floated his company just 19 days before the deal".

"Nobody will get anything. Only Ambani will get everything. This man has accrued a debt of Rs 45,000 crore," the Congress president alleged.

He alleged that the prime minister kept quiet "when his own party's MLA raped a woman and when Nirav Modi ran away with people's money".

"Institutions such as the Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India and the Reserve Bank of India, which are the walls of our country, are being torn apart now," Gandhi alleged. "Our farmers need help. Our youth needs education, elderly people need healthcare. But, there is no discussion on the issues of farmers, education and health care," he said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday commented on the controversy over condition of Indian jails, particularly the one where liquor baron Vijay Mallya will be lodged after his extradition and said that ‘justice should be same for all Indian people and Mallya can’t have a different jail’.

Interacting with Indian Journalists Association in London, Gandhi said, ‘Justice should be same for all Indian people, it shouldn’t be that just because you are Mallya and have 9,000 crores in the bank, you require a different jail than other people in India.’

‘Before leaving India Vijay Mallya met some of the senior BJP leaders and it is documented. I won’t take names, but he did meet them. So, they are pretty lenient to these people. Nirav Modi took 45, 000 crores, Mehul Chouski took off from India. There is a relationship between Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and these relationships come in the middle of justice.’

"People support populist leaders like Mr Trump and Mr Modi because they are angry that they don't have a job. Instead of solving this problem these leaders ride on that anger. They damage the country by this," he said.

Gandhi again maintained that "there is a lot of similarity between Muslim Brotherhood and RSS. They use democratic processes to capture power".

The Muslim Brotherhood is the oldest political Islamist group in the Arab world. It is banned and declared as a terrorist organisation by the governments of several countries.

He said that "both the organisations were formed in the 1920s, both believe in institutional capture and both were banned, particularly the RSS was banned after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination".

Asked about the Congress' strategy for 2019 general elections, Gandhi said "the Opposition in our conversation is very clear that the first and most important challenge is to stop the RSS, the BJP from attacking and destroying Indian state and institutions.

"There is absolute acceptance and unity on that point. We are not getting into any conversation that distracts us from that goal"

Responding to a question on the Doklam issue while interacting with Indian Journalists Association in London, Gandhi said, "Chinese troops are still in Doklam and have built massive infrastructure there. The Prime Minister went recently to China and didn't discuss Doklam with them. The Prime Minister went there without agenda. Somebody comes here, slaps you on your face and you have a non-agenda discussion."

On being asked if he could throw light on the Doklam report since he was part of the Parliamentary Committee and had an interaction with the Foreign Secretary, Gandhi said, "It is a tricky question because I can't say. I am bound by Parliamentary privilege; can't say what was in the report. But I can say that we had a conversation with the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary on Doklam. And what was said in that room, cannot be said outside."

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that the party has an issue with the "criminalisation" aspect in the Triple Talaq Bill.

Responding to a question by ANI on Congress stonewalling the Triple Talaq Bill in courts and in Parliament, the Congress President said, ‘We have an issue with the criminalisation (part of the Bill) but we have not stonewalled anything. Our issue is with the criminalisation aspect.’

Describing  the 1984 riots as a "very painful tragedy", Rahul Gandhi, who was on a two-day visit to the UK, had said, "It was a tragedy, it was a painful experience. You say that the Congress party was involved in that, I don't agree with that. Certainly there was violence, certainly there was tragedy."