‘Yeh kayar log hain, kuch nahin karenge’: What Rahul told Uttarakhand gym trainer ‘Mohammad Deepak’

“Deepak has defended our tricolour and our Constitution. He stood firm against hate, protected the weak—there is no greater patriotism than this,” he added.

The two had met on Monday. Deepak’s friends, who had witnessed the incident, also accompanied him.

During the interaction, as per the video, Deepak relates the incident that occurred on Republic Day, January 26, and how questions related to his identity, triggered by his intervention to defend Vakil Ahmed, who runs his shop with ‘Baba’ in its name, built up to the confrontation.

“They asked my name…my objective in telling them that my name was Mohammad Deepak was (to underline) that I am a Hindustani – that I am Hindu, Muslim, Sikh as well as Christian,” he tells Gandhi.

The LoP then seeks more details about the incident from the group and is told that not only was Deepak made to confront a mob, but also inaction from the local police. “What was your fault in this? Why were you put behind bars?” Gandhi asks Deepak after he tells him that he was put in what he was told was protective custody, while “nothing was done” against the mob.

When the Raebareli MP asked Deepak where he got the strength to stand up to a mob of hundreds, Deepak credited his mother, who he said runs a tea shop. Gandhi then spoke to her over the phone, seeking to assure her that no harm would come their way in the face of bounties being announced on her son’s head.

“Are you anxious?” he asks Deepak’s mother, who tells him that the circumstances are such. “Do not be worried; these people are cowards, they won’t do anything; they are fainthearted,” he adds.

Gandhi then commends Deepak for “speaking the truth” and “doing the work of dharma”, seeking to underscore that he did not “bow down before their disrespect”. They depart following a hug after Gandhi reiterates, “They cannot do anything (to you).”