It’s perfectly legitimate to discuss issues involved with Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Milan in Italy as is being reported.
While most would say what’s new; and smart ones would arch eyebrows and wonder if his sincerity to the farmers’ cause—only days after he had presented a letter in protest to the president Ram Nath Kovind—was always a sham, not to say a validation that rare upcoming democratic elections for Congress president doesn’t excite him, there are some travel regulation issues in the times of Corona pandemic which is a matter of debate among netizens.
Is Italy allowing travellers to disembark on its land? Well, it is but not so easily to the Indian citizens since ours is in its List E countries. In rules in force for the Christmas and New Year, a foreign national from these nations could only visit Italy for work, health or study reasons, absolute urgency or return to one’s own domicile, home, or residence.
Now we could only speculate the section which the Gandhi scion has opted for for his visit.
It shouldn’t be study or work is a reasonable guess. Rahul Gandhi certainly can’t be taking admission in any educational institution in Italy. It’s not the age but his crusade, you see, which can’t keep him out of India for long months. It can’t be work either for though he is on bail on the National Herald case, he doesn’t need to work to live by the day. The man, most of the times, is seen in white khadi only so he has sparse habits.
Absolute urgency? Don’t think it could be the reason too because if anything urgency is storming from every door in his room in India. Two of the reasons are already mentioned above; then there are assembly elections in which Congress is hopping on Left’s bandwagon that, it’s only fair to state, is coming apart at every screw or joint.
Let’s for a moment presume that Rahul Gandhi has home and residence in Italy—come on, he can’t be domiciled—but all his people are in India and he could only cite “absolute urgency”, god forbids, if the legal possession of his land or property has run into trouble. Or if he has wife or children needing him in Italy which, as we all know, can’t be true since the man is a bonafide Bachelor, having devoted his life to uphold secularism and protect democracy in India. Sonia Gandhi is sick, I mean ill, but she too, one often reads, visits the United States for medical reasons.
“The ministerial decree of December 3, 2020 also states the possibility of entry into Italy, from these countries (List E) for people who have a proven and stable relationship (even if not cohabiting) with Italian/EU/Schengen citizens or with individuals who are legally resident in Italy (long-term residents), who need to reach their partner’s home/domicile/residence,” it adds.
Now of course Rahul’s maternal family is from Italy. But the above wordings confuse us since it mentions “need to reach their partner” which as we know, can’t be true for Rahul Gandhi since he is not married.
So what’s the reason? The plot only get thicker if we remember Rahul Gandhi also doesn’t take his Special Protection Group (SPG) cover when he visits abroad.
In 2017, Amit Shah had asked Rahul Gandhi why he doesn’t take his SPG cover on his foreign trips. Rajnath Singh, then home minister, had asked Rahul Gandhi what he was trying to hide. Rajnath Singh had also revealed then that in previous two years, Gandhi had been on six foreign tours spread over 72 days where he didn’t take along his SPG cover.
