Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that he feels he gets "beaten up so much in politics" because he instinctively stands with the weak. He was replying to a question by a journalist on why Punjabis should trust him.
"Look at my actions, you will see that I am a person who, when I see some injustice is done, I feel for that person instinctively. If you see one strong man beating a weak man, automatically I am on the side of the weak. "In fact, this is why I get beaten up so much in politics. I am also thinking to myself, why. But I have that inside me. If I feel injustice is being done to Punjab I will stand for Punjab, no matter what. If I feel injustice is being done to a Dalit girl in UP, I will go there, I will take two-three 'lathis', no problem. That is my nature, that is what I have been taught. I don't know any other way," Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had recently travelled to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh to meet the family members of a 19-year-old Dalit woman who was gangraped. She died a fortnight later. He said his political path would have been easier if he did not have this trait. "Frankly, I can see right now that my political path would have been much easier, if I did not have this. But it is there how can I take it out. That is why the people of Punjab should trust me," he said.
The former Congress chief said that he had often been abused and beaten while fighting for the rights of sections of society as in the case of the Land Acquisition Bill and MGNREGA among others. "Now, I am standing with the people of Punjab against this farm bill," said Gandhi on the final day of his tractor rallyin Punjab.
The Congress leader also said that he owed a debt to Punjab and Punjabis. "I have learnt a lot from Punjabi people. Punjab has given me a lot… The people of this state have a particular spirit which has taught me quite a lot," he said.
He recalled an incident when his grandmother Indira Gandhi lost the parliamentary election in 1977. "I remember in 1977, my grandmother lost an election. There was nobody in the house, but there were Sikhs in my house. She was protected by Sikhs in 1977. I will never forget that," he said.
"In my mind, it is a strange thing. But there is a debt that I feel I owe to the people of Punjab. In a similar way, I have a feeling that I owe the people of Tamil Nadu. I do not know why but I have that feeling inside," he said.
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