Wayanad’s “disqualified” member of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday reaffirmed his commitment to his erstwhile constituency, capping a road show and a public meeting that drew a large gathering.

“My disqualification does not mean anything as far as my relationship with you is concerned. The disqualification will only deepen our relationship,” he told the meeting here in Wayanad district.

Referring to how he had been treated by the BJP-led central government, he said that after his hasty disqualification and imminent loss of his house, he was surer than before that he was on the correct path.

“I am not going to stop, no matter what happens,’’ Rahul said.

“I just asked Mr Narendra Modi, ‘please explain your relationship with Mr Adani’. I kept asking that simple question.... The Prime Minister has not answered that question,” Rahul said.

The Congress leader pointed out that removing him from Parliament was the biggest gift the government had given him. Some of those who had addressed the meeting before him had also said Rahul out of Parliament would prove more dangerous than Rahul in Parliament as it placed him with the people.

Rahul said he had thought a great deal about what it means to be a member of Parliament. To be a people’s representative, one has to understand their emotions, sufferings and difficulties. One has to acquire humility and treat people as equals and superiors. It’s not about fighting for what one wants, but what the people want.

He said that a representative of the people should raise questions without fear. “MP” is just a tag, a position, a post. “The BJP can take away the tag. They can take away the position. They can take away the house. They can put me in jail. But they cannot stop me from representing the people of Wayanad,” Rahul said.

According to Rahul, the people of India and therein, the people of Wayanad, wish to live in a country that is free. A farmer who isn’t wealthy wishes to see his child become a successful engineer or businessman. No one wants to live in a country where four or five people own everything.

To the BJP, he said: “You be as nasty as you want, be as evil as you want but I will continue to be as kind as I can be; even to you.”

Rahul said he doesn’t fear the BJP’s intimidation and actually found it “amusing”.

Rahul wondered why the BJP failed to understand him after all these years. “I have been fighting the BJP for quite some years. And it surprises me that in so many years, they have been unable to understand their opponent. They do not understand that their opponent will not get intimidated. It surprises me that they cannot see this. They think that by sending police to my house, I will get scared. They think by taking away my house, I will get disturbed,” he said.

Speaking before her brother, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra set the tone for the interaction with Wayanad. She said that the current visit to Wayanad was an emotional one. She had watched her brother — a person without a wife and family — preparing to clear out from his official residence.

Rahul and Priyanka in Wayanad on Tuesday. PTI picture

Priyanka had mentioned to her brother their upcoming trip to Wayanad and her misgivings about delivering a speech in English. He had told her not to worry as the people of Wayanad were their family.

She found it odd that a government could hound a person just because he asked a question it could not answer. “Our country is at the crossroad. What has happened to my brother is just a symptom,” she said.

Referring to the BJP’s view that the Congress was making one man’s (Rahul’s) predicament an issue for democracy, Priyanka said she felt the whole government was engaged in protecting one person — Gautam Adani. “Put India first now,’’ she said.

The event appeared to draw many people other than Congress workers. Asked how the turnout compared to the rallies of 2019, a resident said the numbers seemed diminished a bit, probably because the novelty for Rahul had worn out, given he was now a regular visitor. There was also the fact that Tuesday was close to major festivals.

Additional reporting by K.M. Rakesh. Shyam G. Menon, a freelance journalist based in Mumbai, is travelling in north Kerala