'If You Just Do The Math...': Rahul Gandhi Says 2024 Lok Sabha Poll Results Will 'Surprise' People

Amid a three-city US tour, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the 2024 Lok Sabha election will "surprise" people. He also stressed how his disqualification came after his speech in Lok Sabha on billionaire Gautam Adani.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the National Press Club, Washington during a three-city US tour

Source : Twitter/@INCIndia

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that the Opposition in India is united and a lot of good work is happening on the ground as he claimed that there is a hidden undercurrent building that will "surprise" the people in the next general elections. He made the statement in response to a series of questions during an interaction with the media at the National Press Club in Washington amid a three-city US tour. He also spoke about his disqualification stressing how he received the highest punishment for a defamation case in the first such instance in India's history, after his speech in Lok Sabha on billionaire Gautam Adani.

"I think the Congress party will do very well in the next two years. I think it will,” said the 52-year-old former Congress president. "I think there is a hidden undercurrent building…I think (the outcome) will surprise people,” he added, as quoted by news agency PTI.

"I am not entirely convinced about this idea that Mr Narendra Modi's going to win the (20)24 elections. I think it's not as simple as people make out if you just do the math a United opposition will defeat the BJP on its own," he opined.

VIDEO | "If you just do the math, a united opposition will defeat the BJP (in 2024 Lok Sabha elections)," said Rahul Gandhi in response to a query on opposition unity in India.

(Source: Indian National Congress) pic.twitter.com/6if9vzWq7A

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 2, 2023

Speaking on his disqualification from Lok Sabha, the former Wayanad MP said that he is "the first person in India to be given the highest punishment for a defamation case, the first person in history, since 1947." "Nobody has been given a maximum sentence that too on the first offence. That should explain what’s going on to you and my disqualification happens quite interestingly after my speech about Adani in Parliament, so you can do the math," he remarked.

I am the first person in Indian history since 1947 to be given the highest punishment for defamation.

My disqualification happened right after my speech on Adani in Parliament. This should explain what is going on in India.

: Shri @RahulGandhi

📍National Press Club,… pic.twitter.com/bZq0pntMli

— Congress (@INCIndia) June 1, 2023

The Congress leader cited the outcome of the Karnataka assembly elections where the Congress secured a comfortable majority and ousted the BJP from power, and said that the next three or four state elections will be a better indicator of what's going to happen.

"What we see on the ground is that there is massive unemployment and dramatic increase in prices. One of the reasons we won the Karnataka election was that there was a feeling in India that there is a set of people who have a huge amount of wealth and then there is a large mass of Indian people who are poor and struggling, huge income disparities. I think unemployment (in India) is at its 40-year-high," said Rahul Gandhi in response to a query on India's economic growth at the National Press Club, Washington.

There is a definite capture of institutions and the press in India. I walked across India, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, and spoke directly to millions of Indian people.

They didn't seem happy to me; there were serious issues with rising unemployment and inflation. There was… pic.twitter.com/NVlfn21I7o

— Congress (@INCIndia) June 1, 2023

I Don't Believe Everything I Hear: Rahul Gandhi On PM Narendra Modi's Popularity

In response to another question, Gandhi said the Opposition in India is pretty united. "And I think it's getting more and more united. We're having conversations with all the Opposition (parties). I think quite a lot of good work is happening." "It's a complicated discussion because there are spaces where we have competing also with (other) Opposition (parties). So, it's a little bit of give and take as required. But I'm confident that that will happen,” he added, as per PTI.

The former Wayanad MP also answered a range of questions, including on press and religious freedoms in India, the issues faced by the minorities, and the state of the economy.

When asked about the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi said there is a "definite capture of the institutions of the country. There's a definite capture of the press in the country. I'm not convinced that you know, I don't, I don't believe everything I hear."

"I walked across India from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and talked directly to millions of Indian people and they didn't seem very happy to me. They were very clear that they were serious issues with regards to unemployment and there was a massive price rise. So there was angst in the people," he added referring to the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

VIDEO | "I walked across India and spoke to millions of Indians and they didn't seem very happy to me. Look at Karnataka elections, and wait and watch the next 3-4 state elections," said Rahul Gandhi in response to a query of PM Modi's popularity across the world.

(Source:… pic.twitter.com/TqBRuqYMu9

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 2, 2023

On his party's stance on ensuring the rights of minorities in India, he said, "India has a very robust system already in place, (but) that system has been weakened...You have to have an independent set of institutions that are not pressurised and controlled. And that's been the norm in India. This is an aberration that is taking place in India...If you say that if Congress came to power that they could quickly be restored, quickly." 

He spoke about allegedly weakening press freedom in India and said press freedom is very, very critical for democracy.

"It's not just press freedom. It's political access on multiple axis, there is a clamp down on the institutional framework that allowed India to talk, that allowed the Indian people to negotiate.... And that structure that allows the negotiation between India's people is coming under pressure,” he added, as quoted by PTI.

On US-India ties, he said the relationship between India and the United States is very, very important.

"It's important to have a defense relationship. But I think we need to also consider other areas (of cooperation)," he opined.