After the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in the defamation case, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said his duty of protecting the idea of India remains the same and he would continue to do so.

"Come what may, my duty remains the same. Protect the idea of India," he said on Twitter soon after the apex court granted him relief by staying his conviction by a lower court in Gujarat.

The Gujarat High Court had earlier upheld his conviction, which was stayed by the Supreme Court on Friday.

Gandhi was also accorded a grand welcome by Congress workers at the All India Congress Committee headquarters.

The former Congress chief visited the party office along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Ecstatic party workers at the AICC headquarters danced to the beats of drums, distributed sweets and unfurled the Congress flag to welcome Gandhi.

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