‘Stood firm against hate, no greater patriotism than this’

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hailed a gym owner from Uttarakhand, who shot into the limelight as “Mohammad Deepak” for taking on Bajrang Dal activists allegedly harassing a Muslim shopkeeper,

saying he stood firm against hate to protect the weak and there is no greater patriotism than this.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha made the remarks in a social media post as he put out the video of his recent

meeting with gym owner Deepak Kumar and his friend Vijay Rawat.

“The ideology of harmony and love resides in the hearts of millions of Indians, but there is also fear in their minds -- Deepak has shown the path to all of them with his courage. Those who try to spread hate and intimidate society are, in truth, cowards -- never fear them,” Gandhi said in his post in Hindi on X.

“Deepak has defended our tricolour and our Constitution. He stood firm against hate, protected the weak -- There is no greater patriotism than this,” Gandhi said.

In the video, Kumar is seen narrating the incident in which he had to intervene to protect a Muslim shopkeeper. Kumar says when people gathered outside his house a few days after the incident, police did not do much to disperse the mob and instead took him to the police station to ensure that the situation does not goes out of control.

Gandhi also spoke to Kumar’s wife and told her that there was no need to be afraid as those opposing her husband are cowards.

Gandhi also promised to come and visit him in Kotdwar.

Kumar told Gandhi that he was not afraid of anyone apart from God.

Gandhi told Kumar that there was no bigger patriotic act than what

he had done and he had protected the Constitution and the tricolour.