Rahul Gandhi absent from anti-CAA protests, Congress clarifies

Former Congress party president Rahul Gandhi’s trip to South Korea amid protests raging all across the country over the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, has been much criticised. Gandhi was missing in action even as the country is burning over the ruling party’s citizenship law.

However, other Congress leaders have already come forward to defend Rahul and claimed that this trip had been planned months ago, which left no room for the Gandhi scion to rescind.

According to a report by the Hindustan Times, a senior Congress leader in knowledge of the Korea trip has informed that the delegation from India was specially invited by a non-profit organisation named the Korean Foundation.

The organisation works on public policies that would make South Korea’s diplomatic ties with other nations stronger. It is affiliated to the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The party senior also said that, apart from discussing how to enhance Indo-Korean ties, the delegation spoke about how the Congress-ruled states could draw inspiration from infrastructural and technological projects in Korea for their own development.

The delegation - including Sam Pitroda, the chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, and Nikhil Alva, who is Rahul Gandhi’s communications strategist – reportedly left for Korea on December 15, just a few hours before the police excess was reported from Jamia Milia University.

However, before leaving for this trip, Rahul posted a tweet in support of the protests against the CAB and NRC. He wrote, “I stand in solidarity with those protesting peacefully against the CAB and NRC.”

Meanwhile, even as his date of arrival in India remains unknown, Rahul posted another tweet, this time about the Korea meet and not the furor in the country.

As a part of an official delegation, I today met with the PM of the Republic of Korea, His Excellency, Lee Nak-yon and other officials, in Seoul. We discussed a wide range of issues, including the current political & economic situation in our respective countries. pic.twitter.com/0ILEg5j20Z

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) December 17, 2019