Hello! Mr Modi,’ Rahul Gandhi jokingly says, alleging that his phone is tapped

Addressing students at the Stanford University Campus in California on Wednesday during his three-city US tour, the Congress leader said: “I think the drama started really, about six months ago. We were struggling. The entire opposition is struggling in India. Huge financial dominance. Institutional capture. We’re struggling to fight the democratic fight in our country.” He added that this was when he decided to launch his ambitious nationwide ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.

The Congress leader was disqualified as the Wayanad (Kerala) Member of Parliament earlier this year after he was convicted by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark.

“I am very clear, our fight is ours fight,” he said. “But there is a group of young students from India here. I want to have a relationship with them and want to talk to them. It’s my right to do it,” he said during his interaction with Indian students and academicians of Indian origin at the university here.

‘Hello! Mr Modi,’ Rahul Gandhi jokingly says, alleging that his phone is tapped

While speaking with a group of Silicon Valley-based startup entrepreneurs, the Congress leader also discussed the issue of data privacy. Speaking about the issue of Pegasus spyware, he told the audience that he is not worried about it. At one point, he jokingly said, “Hello! Mr Modi” on his iPhone. “I presume my iPhone is being tapped. You need establish rules with regard to privacy of data information as a nation and also as an individual,” he said.

“If a nation state decides that they want to tap your phone, no one can stop you. This is my sense,” he said. “If the nation is interested in tapping phone, then this is not a battle worth fighting. I think whatever I do and work, is available to the government,” he claimed.

The Congress leader was attending a panel discussion at the Plug and Play Tech Centre, which one of the largest incubators of startups.