Rahul Gandhi has defended his walk across India to spearhead Congress Party opposition to the Indian government's "stifling" of major issues in parliament at a gathering at Chatham House in London.
The 4,000km 150-day walk in January set out a different agenda to that promoted by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. "It placed on the table a different narrative of India," he told the meeting. "Not an angry, aggressive, violent narrative, which is currently deployed by the BJP, but a peace loving, almost Gandhian non-violent, open, accepting narrative and I think that was the biggest success of the walk.
"It clearly placed on the table a different vision of the country. Along the way, I learned many, many things."
Earlier he used a speech in the UK's parliament to lambast Narendra Modi’s government, claiming there is no space for free speech in India’s parliament.
The scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty told a room packed with British MPs and members of the public that opposition leaders in New Delhi are not allowed to voice concerns about crucial issues. He cited taxes and demonetisation as examples.
Mr Gandhi’s appearance before the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group in the Grand Committee Room of the Palace of Westminster drew a huge amount of interest. Members of the public, holding visitor day passes, queued outside the room before his address.
He said two different versions of how the world should develop were offered by Congress and BJP.
"When we walked, we heard basically four things -- unemployment, the price rises, inequality and violence against women", he told the Chatham House event. "Those are the broad themes that came up.
He said he worried that the country's institutional architecture was being dismantled by the current government. "If you really look at the BJP and see what's the one big thing that they've done, it's huge concentration of power in the Prime Minister's office", he said.
The BJP, led by Mr Modi, responded by accusing Mr Gandhi of denigrating India on foreign soil, according to a report by India Today. The party reportedly said he had “crossed the limit of insulting India”.
Pavan Kumar Varma, a former member of India’s parliament, told the TV station: “When a leading politician washes the internal dirty linen of Indian politics abroad, my personal view is that a certain nuance and sophistication is required”.
Mr Gandhi, 52, is on a 10-day tour of the UK.
His visit to the Houses of Parliament also included lunch with David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary.
Mr Gandhi’s great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India’s first and longest-serving prime minister. His grandmother, Indira Gandhi, served as the country’s first female prime minister. His father, Rajiv Gandhi, was India’s youngest prime minister.
WITHIN%20SAND
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Destroyer
Director: Karyn Kusama
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Sebastian Stan
Rating: 3/5
UAE release: January 31
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
SPECS
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Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scoreline:
Al Wahda 2
Al Menhali 27', Tagliabue 79'
Al Nassr 3
Hamdallah 41', Giuliano 45 1', 62'
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
