Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that even if he is disqualified permanently from Parliament or jailed, he would keep defending the country’s democratic nature. He claimed that a “panic-stricken” government has handed the Opposition a “weapon” with the move to disqualify him. The former Congress chief was addressing a presser after being disqualified from Lok Sabha.

“My name is not Savarkar, my name is Gandhi and Gandhi does not offer an apology to anyone,” he further said, responding to a query on repeated calls by the BJP seeking his apology over various issues.  He said that he had made appeals to be allowed to speak in the Parliament but was not given permission.