NEW DELHI : The Congress today said Rahul Gandhi will file an appeal against a Gujarat court verdict holding him guilty in the 2019 criminal defamation case and alleged that he was being “punished” for raising his voice for the truth. “Rahul Gandhi ji is raising his voice against the dictator. Showing courage to call wrong what is wrong. The dictator is scared because of this courage. They are trying to intimidate him through ED, police, cases. We will fight and win,” the 136 old party said in a tweet.
Rahul Gandhi might face “immediate disqualification” after a Surat court convicted him of criminal defamation. This is as per a landmark Supreme Court judgment of July 10, 2013, which negated the previous position that allowed convicted MPs, MLAs, MLCs to retain their seats until they had exhausted all judicial remedies, till the Supreme Court of India. The Manmohan Singh government that was in power at the time brought in an ordinance against the judgment, but a public chastising on Rahul’s part against it – including the famous incident of him tearing into the ordinance – had made the government roll it back.
Surat court convicts Rahul Gandhi in 2019 defamation case over ‘Modi surname'” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday sentenced to two years imprisonment in 2019 criminal defamation case by a Gujarat court over his “Modi surname” remark. He was later granted bail by the court. Surat District Court held the Congress MP guilty in the criminal defamation case filed against him over his alleged ‘Modi surname’ remark.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi guilty in the 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his alleged ‘Modi surname’ remark. Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to two years imprisonment in the 2019 criminal defamation case. Rahul Gandhi has been granted bail and his 2-year sentence in 2019 criminal defamation case was suspended for 30 days. Congress’s Rahul Gandhi was given a two-year jail term today by a court in Gujarat in a defamation case over his remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname. The party said attempts to “silence” Mr Gandhi will not help, “we will fight the cases.
Targeting PM Modi over his last name which he shares with fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi — Rahul Gandhi had apparently said, “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?” The case was filed by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi. Rahul Gandhi had been granted bail and his sentence suspended for 30 days to allow him time to appeal. The court’s order puts him at risk of disqualification as a member of parliament under the law. Top sources in the Congress have conceded the point and said Mr Gandhi will not be attending parliament till his appeal is heard.
Mr Gandhi, who was in Surat, has returned to Delhi. In his first reaction to the verdict, he quoted Mahatma Gandhi. “My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, non-violence the means to get it,” he posted on Twitter. The Congress has questioned how the court can give such harsh punishment after a 20-minute hearing.
After the verdict, in a rare show of support, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “A conspiracy is being hatched to eliminate non-BJP leaders… We have differences with the Congress, but it is not right to implicate Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case like this… We respect the court but disagree with the decision”. “Get the opposition leaders raided by ED, IT, CBI, even if things don’t work, get baseless cases done in different cities under a heinous conspiracy so that no core stone is left unturned in headline management. This is a matter of grave concern for the Constitution, democracy, politics and the country,” tweeted RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, without naming Mr Gandhi.
The other allies of Congress -Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party and Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena faction, are yet to comment. DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has spoken to Rahul Gandhi to express support. Mr Gandhi’s lawyer has argued the court proceedings were “flawed” from the beginning. He argued that P Modi and not MLA Purnesh Modi, should have been the complainant in the case because Mr Gandhi had targeted him in his speech.
The BJP been demanding for long that Mr Gandhi be expelled from parliament. Initially it was over his comments on the Hindenburg-Adani issue. Later they demanded that he be ousted over his comments at the Cambridge University, which, the party contended was anti-national.Last week, Delhi police had questioned Mr Gandhi at his home over his remark during the Bharat Jodo Yatra that “women are still being sexually assaulted”.
The BJP hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his tweet after the Gujarat court’s order awarding him two-year jail term and asked does believing in truth, non-violence mean humiliating people. Gandhi today tweeted, “My religion based on truth, non-violence; truth is my God, non-violence means to get it.”
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju today said Rahul Gandhi’s remarks have caused harm to the Congress. “Whatever Rahul Gandhi speaks it always affects Congress party and the entire nation in a negative way. Some Congress MPs told me that because of his attitude, Congress is suffering,” he said after after a Gujarat court convicted Gandhi for his ‘Modi surname’ comments and awarded him a two-year jail term.
My brother was never afraid, and will never be: Priyanka Gandhi on Rahul Gandhi’s jail term Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday said that the government is trying to supress the voice of her brother Rahul Gandhi as a Gujarat court held him guilty in the 2019 defamation case. “The entire government machinery is trying to suppress the voice of Rahul Gandhi by hook and by crook. My brother was never afraid, and will never be. He lived his life speaking truth and will continue to speak truth. Will continue to raise the voice of the people of the country. The power of truth and the love of crores of countrymen are with him,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.
(bure3au Report with Agencies Inputs).
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