"People of India will never accept...": UP Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak slams Rahul Gandhi

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 2 : Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak on Friday slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for criticising one's own country on foreign soil saying that people of the country will never accept the insult of the nation on foreign soil.

While talking to ANI, the Deputy CM said, "This (Rahul Gandhi's statement) is very saddening. People of India will never accept the insult of the nation on foreign soil."

Weighing in on issues concerning national politics during an interaction with journalists at the National Press Club in Washington DC on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi claimed that press freedom was under threat back home in India and the world could see the same.

Opening up on the issue during a free-wheeling conversation with scribes in the US capital, Rahul said press freedom is very critical for a functional democracy and one should be open to criticism. He alleged that there was a clampdown on the institutional framework, which enabled the national discourse.

"There is definitely a weakening of press freedom in India. It is apparent in India and the rest of the world can see it too. Press freedom is very critical for a democracy. One should be open to criticism. There is a clampdown on the institutional framework that allowed India to talk and Indian people to negotiate. I view India as a negotiation between its people, between different cultures, languages and histories. Mahatma Gandhi set up the framework to enable that negotiation fairly and freely. That structure, which allows this negotiation, is coming under pressure," Rahul said.

Addressing the Indian diaspora in California on Tuesday, Rahul took a jibe at PM Modi, saying that some people in India have the "disease" of being under the impression that they know everything.

The remarks triggered a backlash from the BJP, which accused the Congress leader of tarnishing India's image on foreign soil.

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