As a part of an international outreach programme, Congress President Rahul Gandhi visited the UAE recently on a two day visit. He visited Dubai on the 11th of January and Abu Dhabi on the 12th of January 2019. The trip consisted of meetings and various other events. Here are some of the chief takeaways of Rahul Gandhi’s UAE trip:
The idea behind the UAE visit is to reach out to and interact with Indian diaspora aboard. Earlier, the Congress President had also visited the United States, Malaysia, London, Germany and Bahrain to interact with Indian diaspora living there.
India's opposition leader met with business leaders as well as the many Indian workers and labourers who work in Dubai. He addressed them and invited them to share their difficulties with him. Problems such as the difficulty finding work, repatriating money home, the difficulties of transporting the mortal remains of a person and the problems that destitute Indians face were key aspects covered.
Rahul Gandhi's speech in front of more than 25,000 Indian expatriates at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium was the highlight of the visit. While he asked for the support of NRIs in building Indian he also spoke about a range of issues that Indians are facing in India such as unemployment, farmer distress etc.
In the event called the "Idea of India" Rahul Gandhi also spoke about the rising intolerance in India over the past few years and pointed out how this year is coincidentally also the year of tolerance in the UAE. He spoke about the importance of humility citing the example of the leaders of the UAE.
Apart from the Congress leader addressing the public, there was a cultural programme where folk artistes various states put up performances. Rahul Gandhi also addressed the university students at IMT Dubai University and answered questions posed by the students.
Every bit of important news today seems to spawn its sub set of fake news. Rahul Gandhi's UAE visit was no exception. This fake video, with the image of Rahul Gandhi clearly morphed on the Burj was widely viewed and quickly debunked as fake.
Another fake story about Gandhi being stumped by the question of a 14 year old is doing the rounds. While Rahul Gandhi did take questions from university students at IMT Dubai University, no such person was present nor at any other event during his UAE visit.This image is taken from a three year old video and seems fabricated to create fake news.
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