The Indian Parliament disqualified Congress politician Rahul Gandhi on Friday following his conviction for defamation.
Gandhi, the former Congress chief, was sentenced this week to two years in prison by Gujarat's Surat District Court over his remarks made during the 2019 election campaign.
A letter from the Indian Parliament's lower house read: “Rahul Gandhi, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala, stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 23 March 2023.”
His disqualification is in accordance with a 2013 verdict of the Supreme Court in which it ruled that any parliamentarian or lawmaker be barred if sentenced for two or more years for a crime.
Congress MPs March Against Gandhi's Conviction
The Congress Party staged a protest march in Delhi to oppose Gandhi's conviction and demand that a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) be established to probe the Adani-Hindenburg row instead.
The march from Parliament to the Vijay Chowk area, where heavy security was deployed, also counted on the participation of Congress' allied parties.
The row over Indian conglomerate Gautam Adani erupted after research firm Hindenburg said that Adani allegedly maintained offshore tax havens and accused it of manipulating stock prices and committing accounting fraud in one of its reports.
While addressing the media at Vijay Chowk, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that Congress and other opposition parties are trying to keep the debate about the Adani case. “We are talking about Adani, who has been benefitted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi but BJP is trying to divert the issue by talking about OBCs,” Kharge stated.
OBC's are a socially and educationally backward section of society in India and the Modi community belongs to this class.
Earlier in the day, a Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting was held under the chairmanship of former party chief Sonia Gandhi. It was attended by Rahul Gandhi, Kharge, and other party parliamentarians.
Kharge, who is also leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha (upper house), called the meeting of all opposition parties in his chamber to galvanize support for Gandhi and discuss the course of action against the government over the Adani row.
All About Defamation Case
Gandhi's conviction comes for comments made in 2019 while addressing a rally in Karnataka state. During the rally, the Congress parliamentarian suggested that the surname Modi was synonymous with criminality, claiming: "all thieves have Modi as (their) common surname."
Gandhi has, however, since been granted bail and had his sentence suspended for 30 days to let him appeal the decision.
Soon after the court's verdict, the Congress Party called a meeting with all the state chiefs and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) members on Thursday and said that it would stage large protests across the country from Monday.
After the meeting, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said: “This is not just a legal issue, it is also a very serious political issue, which is related to the future of our democracy. This is a great example of Modi government's politics of vengeance, politics of threats, politics of intimidation and politics of harassment."
BJP Chief Fires Fresh Salvo at Rahul Gandhi
Federally-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief J.P. Nadda fired a fresh salvo at the Congress parliamentarian and the party, stoking the fire of the political divide.
In a series of tweets, he assumed that Gandhi has a "habit" of leveling baseless fabricated allegations, adding that the Congress politician has “huge arrogance but little understanding."
Slamming Gandhi for his 2019 remarks, the BJP president said that “lies, personal slander and negative politics is integral" to his politics and he has repeatedly hurt the sentiments of the Other Backward Class (OBC) community.
Jagat Prakash Nadda's tweet on Rahul Gandhi
© Photo : Social media screenshot
“The Surat court has convicted him for his objectionable comments against the community. But Rahul Gandhi and the Congress stuck to those remarks due to their arrogance,” Nadda said.
He further stated that people will “punish” him more severely in the 2024 parliamentary polls than in 2019, when Gandhi lost in the Amethi constituency, Uttar Pradesh state, and Congress was routed nationally.
After Nadda’s remarks, Congress spokesperson Ramesh defended Gandhim by tweeting: “As always, J.P. Nadda is distorting facts and doing politics of defamation. By doing this they are defending Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi. This truth had to come out and now it has. Thank you Naddaji for your honesty. Now please show some honesty on Adani too.”