While Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated Diwali with soldiers at the Nowshera sector in Jammu and Kashmir on November 4, according to a Republic TV report, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi flew to London. PM Modi has been celebrating Diwali with armed forces since 2014 when he became the prime minister.
“I want to spend Diwali with family members, so I join you on this festival,” Modi explained his priority as a citizen and prime minister and applauded the role of the army brigade which had carried a successful surgical strike against Pakistan sponsored Islamic terrorists on September 29, 2016, in wake of a terrorist attack on an Army base in the Uri sector.
I feel privileged that I got to spend Diwali with our brave soldiers in Nowshera, not as Prime Minister but as a member of their family.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 4, 2021
Here are some glimpses. pic.twitter.com/NfO87v9wQE
Modi’s Jammu and Kashmir visit during Diwali celebration with members of armed forces has come at a time when forces are carrying operations against Islamic terrorists following targeted killings of minorities in the Valley.
Rahul Gandhi on the other than, according to a media report, flew to London.
BJP has taken a swipe at Rahul Gandhi for undertaking a foreign trip. “PM Modi returned from a successful visit of the G20, COP26 and got straight to work, chaired important meetings and took big decisions. Today, he was at Nowshera to celebrate Deepawali with jawans. But where is Rahul Gandhi? Apparently on his way to London for another holiday!” BJP leader and IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya said.
PM Modi returned from a successful visit of the G20, COP26 and got straight to work, chaired important meetings and took big decisions. Today, he was at Nowshera to celebrate Deepawali with jawans.
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 4, 2021
But where is Rahul Gandhi?
Apparently on his way to London for another holiday! pic.twitter.com/ZquboWRpUv
So far there is no update on Rahul Gandhi’s London holiday and Congress has not come with any official statement about the purpose of that visit.
Rahul Gandhi – A part-time politician and full-time traveller
In December 2020, Rahul Gandhi left for Milan in Italy on the eve of the 136th foundation day of the Congress. When questions were raised on the sudden disappearance of Rahul Gandhi on such an important occasion, the nervous Congress leaders gave contradictory explanations. KC Venugopal said undertook a personal visit to see his grandmother. Kanti Lal Bhuria on the other hand claimed that Rahul Gandhi had gone for some party work.
On October 6, 2019, barely a fortnight before the assembly elections of Maharashtra and Haryana, Rahul Gandhi left for Bangkok while leaving a fighting flock behind. While the BJP had thrown formidable challenges there was a clear split in the Congress into two camps led by Rahul Gandhi and another by Sonia Gandhi. In Haryana, ahead of his visit, former state unit chief Ashok Tanwar resigned from the party alleging those groomed by Rahul Gandhi were sidelined. Right after he returned from Bangkok, he undertook a trip to Indonesia.
This another escape of Rahul Gandhi from responsibility, the Congress defended as a visit for mediation. Notably, under his direction, Congress had planned as many as 35 press conferences across the country between November 1 and November 8 (2019) against the economic policies and decisions of the Modi government. But Rahul Gandhi skipped the protests.
In May 2019, ahead of the counting of votes of the parliamentary elections, a lot of political activities were going on. Believing that Modi-led NDA is going to be defeated, the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had invited prominent leaders from the Opposition parties to decide on a Prime Ministerial candidate. However, the meeting was postponed as NDA got a massive mandate. Surprisingly, Rahul Gandhi had apparently planned his London visit when his mother Sonia Gandhi was worried about the fate of the Congress and the future of her son in the post-poll scenario. However, Rahul Gandhi postponed the visit as claimed by media reports.
According to media reports, Rahul Gandhi has frequently skipped even important parliamentary sessions and debates. In January 2018 he had skipped the budget session for a sabbatical.
In 2015, Rahul Gandhi went missing for 60 days on the name of vipassana or meditation. He visited four South Asian nations namely Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam from February 16 to April 16, 2015. He spent a maximum number of 21 days in Myanmar which is considered an unsafe place for a Special Protection Group (SPG) protectee.
Rahul Gandhi’s foreign visits have always surprised his party and the SPG
Even if the leaders of the Congress have defended his untimely and secret foreign visits, he always left SPG bothered. His SPG protection was withdrawn in November 2019. In November 2019, during the debate on the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019, the Union Home minister Amit Shah had said that since 2015, Rahul Gandhi had travelled 247 times abroad without informing SPG. Shah had also said that other members of the Gandhi family namely Sonia Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also flouted SPG norms. He said that Sonia Gandhi had also made as many as 24 foreign visits without informing SPG. About Priyanka, he said that she had undertaken 99 foreign trips since 1991, of which she did not seek SPG cover on 78 such tours.
