On 16th March 2023, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference to share information about his meeting with the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla in which Rahul Gandhi claimed to have requested the speaker to allow him to speak in the parliament to answer the allegations levelled against him by some MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
During this press conference, Rahul Gandhi was tutored by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh who attempted to correct one of the sentences of the Congress scion in order to avoid him turning into a joke. However, the suggestion by Jairam Ramesh was audible through the microphone, and the video of the incident went viral making it more embarrassing than Jairam Ramesh might have thought it would be.
In his press conference, Rahul Gandhi said that he visited the Lok Sabha speaker to request that he should be allowed to speak in the parliament to answer the allegations raised by some of the BJP MPs against him about his remarks in his speech in London where he raised questions about the Indian democracy. Rahul Gandhi said that this started after his speech in parliament in which he pointed toward the alleged bond between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani.
While concluding his press statement, at around 6:37 in the live streaming tweeted by the Congress party’s official Twitter handle, Rahul Gandhi said, “I would like to go into the details with you, but unfortunately, I am a member of parliament and I am hopeful that I will be allowed to speak in the parliament. So I would like to first place my statement on the floor of the house and then after that, I would be happy to have a discussion with you that you want.”
As soon as Rahul Gandhi uttered the words, ‘unfortunately, I am a member of parliament’, Jairam Ramesh noticed it, and immediately after Rahul Gandhi completed his sentence, Jairam Ramesh leaned towards the Wayanad MP and said, “Unfortunately, I am a member of parliament. They can make a joke. So, saying, ‘unfortunately, for you,’ will do.”
After this, Rahul Gandhi ‘corrected’ his sentence and said, “I want to make it clear. Unfortunately, for you, I am a member of parliament. And, as the allegation has been made in the parliament, by four ministers, it is my democratic right to have the opportunity. So if Indian democracy would be functioning, I would be able to say my piece in parliament. Actually what you are seeing is a test of Indian democracy.”
As soon as the video of this incident went viral, Twitter users made even bigger jokes about Rahul Gandhi than Jairam Ramesh might have thought there would be. Gaurav Sharma tweeted, “Still what he said later makes sense, unfortunately for us, he is a member of Parliament.”
Mohit wrote, “Somehow and fortunately, he admitted that even for a moment that it’s unfortunate of him to be an MP.”
Adarsh Shaw posted, “Even at this age Rahul Gandhi needs spoon-feeding. I won’t say plzz grow up Rahul because he can’t.”
A Twitter user @petivaadak wrote, “Fortunately, for us, a full-time comedian.”
One Raghavendra Upadhya wrote, “It is our unfortunate/misfortune that Rahul is an MP !!!!!”
https://twitter.com/RvUpadhya/status/1636317635179855873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw JethaanandJethaanand remarked, “Unfortunately for congress, he will make sure that BJP gets 400+ seats.”