Congress President Rahul Gandhi was trolled on Twitter on Monday after he said the maker of Coca-Cola was a “shikanji” (lemonade) seller in the United States and the founder of McDonald’s used to run a “dhaba” (roadside restaurant).

After his remarks, a hashtag #AccordingToRahulGandhi started trending on Twitter.

“Who started Coca-Cola company? Do you know? I will tell you who. The maker of Coca-Cola was a ‘shikanji’ seller. He used to sell ‘shikanji’ in America. He used to mix sugar in water,” said Gandhi while addressing the national convention of the Congress’ OBC arm.

“His experience and skill got recognition and respect, he earned money and Coca-Cola company was founded,” he added.

Gandhi further said: “You must have heard about McDonald’s. The founder of it used to run a ‘dhaba’. You show me one ‘dhabawala’ in India, who founded a company like the one as Coca-Cola. Where is it?”

“Have you heard of Ford, Mercedes and Honda? Who started these companies? The founders of these companies were mechanics. You show me one automobile company in India, which was started by a mechanic,” said Gandhi.

Gandhi said: “This is not true that our people don’t have understanding or skills. It is not that our ‘dhabawalas’ don’t have strength, understanding and knowledge. It is not that our mechnanics don’t have the capabilities as Ford or Mercedes did.

“The truth is the banks are open for companies like Ford, Mercedes and MacDonald’s but they are shut for our ‘dhabawalas’, mechanics and carpenters.”

Coca-Cola was founded by American pharmacist John Pemberton in 1886 when he prepared a beverage which later became Cola drink.

McDonald’s was set up in 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald. It started after they opened a hotdog stand in 1937 in California.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his three cabinet colleagues spent the night at Lt Governor Anil Baijal’s office as they continued their sit-in protest on Tuesday.

Kejriwal along with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and cabinet colleagues Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai were supplied food from outside, informed sources said.

The four went to the LG’s office on Monday evening at 5.30 p.m. to press their three demands, including a direction to IAS officers to end their “strike” and to take action against officers who have struck work for “four months”.

The Chief Minister also demanded approval to his government’s proposal to deliver ration to the poor at their houses.

They decided to stay in Baijal’s office until their demands were accepted. The Raj Niwas had called it a “protest without reason”.

The Chief Minister on Tuesday morning tweeted that his “struggle” was on.

“My dear Delhites, Good Morning. The struggle is on,” Kejriwal tweeted.

In another tweet, he accused the Lt Governor of defending the “IAS strike” by saying that the officers were working and were not on strike.

As of now, Kejriwal and the ministers don’t have any plans of coming out of Baijal’s office and will continue the strike.

They four were constantly updating details through tweets. They spent the Monday night on the sofas in Baijal’s waiting room.

A number of party leaders were squatting on the road outside the Lt Governor’s office to show their support to Kejriwal.

Security outside Baijal’s office has been beefed up since Monday evening.

A statement from the office of Baijal, who met the delegation in the evening, accused the Chief Minister of “threatening” him.

On Monday, Kejriwal tweeted: “LG refuses to take action. LG is under constitutional duty to act. Left with no option, we have politely told the LG that we will not leave till he acts on all points. We have come out of his chamber and (are) sitting in his waiting room.”

Kejriwal on Monday alleged that the IAS association in Delhi was on a strike for the past four months. He dubbed the protest “illegal”.

IAS Association Secretary Manisha Saxena on Monday termed the allegations by Kejriwal as “unwarranted and baseless” and “unfortunate”, saying no officer in Delhi was or has been on strike.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee continued to be at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here for a second day on Tuesday undergoing treatment for urinary tract infection and is said to be stable.

“His condition is stable. We will get the update on his health around noon,” said a hospital official. There is no talk about his discharge any time soon.

Vajpayee, 93, was admitted to AIIMS on Monday for examination. It triggered VIP visits including that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

“Vajpayee was admitted at AIIMS for investigation and evaluation. He has been diagnosed with a urinary tract infection for which appropriate treatment has been closely monitored and treated by a team of doctors,” AIIMS media and protocol division Chairperson Aarti Vij said.

A team of senior doctors under the supervision of Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS, is conducting the tests on Vajpayee, who is bed-ridden for many years. Guleria, a pulmonologist, has been a personal physician to Vajpayee for long.

On Monday, the BJP said in a statement: “As per the advice of doctors, Vajpayeeji has been admitted in AIIMS for routine check-ups and investigations.”

Modi called on Vajpayee on Monday evening and interacted with his family. He spoke to doctors and enquired about Vajpayee’s health. Modi was at AIIMS for about 50 minutes.

Gandhi was the first to visit the hospital to check on Vajpayee’s health. Health Minister J.P. Nadda also visited, followed by Amit Shah and Modi.

On Tuesday, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu enquired about Vajpayee’s health.

Vajpayee, who was Prime Minister briefly in 1996 and then from 1998 to 2004, had retreated from active politics over the last decade due to failing health.

Militants of the so-called “Free Syrian Army” with the assistance of U.S. military special operations forces are mulling a fake chemical attack in Syria, the Russian military said.

The intelligence was confirmed by three independent channels in Syria, said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in a statement on Monday.

A Xinhua report quoted Igor as saying that the Free Syrian Army militants have brought chlorine cylinders to a settlement in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zour to fake a chemical attack by the Syrian government troops against civilians.

A video of the staged attack, after it is disseminated in the western media, will serve as a new pretext for the US-led coalition to strike Syrian targets and justify an offensive by militants against Syrian government forces on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, he said.

The ministry said it is intolerable to use such a provocation to destabilize Syria, Konashenkov said.

The United States, along with Britain and France, launched joint airstrikes on military targets in Syria on April 14, in response to what they said was the Syrian military’s use of chemical weapons in Douma, a then rebel-held town in Eastern Ghouta near the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 7.

However, Russia said that no traces of the chemical attack had been found and that the event was staged.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi arrived here on Tuesday morning for a court hearing in a defamation case and for other party engagements in Mumbai.

Hoardings proclaiming Gandhi as the ‘Future Prime Minister’ greeted him on the roads outside the Mumbai Airport to Thane as he was accorded a warm welcome by Congress state President Ashok Chavan, Mumbai city chief Sanjay Nirupam, Janardhan Chandurkar, Bhai Jagtap, Raju Waghmare and other senior leaders.

Thereafter, Gandhi proceeded to the Bhiwandi Court in adjoining Thane district which was virtually converted into a fortress for the framing of charges in a defamation case against him filed by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker four years ago.

The case was lodged by RSS worker Rajesh Kunte who objected to Gandhi’s utterances at an election rally in March 2014 wherein he blamed the RSS for the killing Mahatma Gandhi.

Later this afternoon, Gandhi will go to Mumbai and interact with the party’s over 15,000 booth-level workers at a function in Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon.

This will mark the launch of a national endeavor ‘Project Shakti’ by which the Congress President will establish direct communication between the grassroots workers and the party’s central leadership, said Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam.

In the evening, Gandhi is scheduled to have a meeting with the party’s municipal corporators and is also likely to call on Nationalist Congress President Sharad Pawar.

Days after accusing Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of indulging in “minority appeasement”, BJP MLA T Raja Singh Lodh on Monday said only those “begging for a vote”, host Iftar parties. In a video posted on Facebook, the MLA from Goshamahal constituency in Hyderabad also said that the “green book (Quran) is responsible for spreading terrorism in India” and that he will neither host nor attend any Iftar party with those who “talk of killing Hindus”.

“These days, many Telangana legislators are busy hosting Iftar parties, wearing skull caps and taking selfies. They think if they have to do vote bank politics, they will have to think of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ (together with all, development for all). This is their thinking. Those who sit with them (attend Iftar parties) are ‘vote ke bikhari’ (beggars for vote). My thinking is different,” Raja said in the video.

Launching a direct attack on the Muslim community and accusing them of “killing the Hindus”, the MLA said his religion was different as Hinduism taught giving respect to everyone. “But some religions and their religious books preach to kill Hindus as they are ‘Kafir’ (a term literally meaning non-believers but often construed as insulting to followers of other religions). How can I attend an Iftar or host one for those who talk of killing Hindus,” he said.

The BJP leader said in order to substantiate his above claims to his friend, he told him that it was mentioned in the “green book” – a reference made to the Quran, the holy book of the Muslims. “The green book is responsible for the spread of terrorism in India and it should be banned. I will fight to get it banned,” he said.
Raja also said that he dreams of an “akhand Hindu rashtra (undivided Hindu nation), construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, a ban on cow slaughter across the country and the return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. “When there are over 50 Muslim countries and more than 100 Christian countries, why can’t there be a single Hindu nation?” he asked.

This is perhaps not the first time when the MLA has made such statements. He was booked by the police several times in the past over his alleged provocative speeches. Raja had once said that the heads of those opposing the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya must be chopped off.

While accusing CM Rao of “appeasing” the minorities, he had earlier posted on Twitter, “KCR wants aid from the Centre as the state is in financial crisis but for appeasement of minorities, the Telangana government is spending Rs 66 crore for Iftar party. Development over vote bank politics.”