Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, recently disqualified from the Parliament after being sentenced to two years in prison over a 2019 defamation case, will challenge his conviction and sentencing in the Surat sessions court tomorrow,… well finally INC leader went to higher court.It was absolutely baseless to ask office bearers to conduct press conferences across the nation.It was rarest of rare verdict hence matter has to be handled legally than enhancing the noise level.Raga finally goes to higher court and that’s a positive response.
The former Congress president has, in his plea, asked the sessions court to set aside the Magistrate order convicting him in the defamation case. He also asked for an interim stay on the conviction till the matter is disposed of.
Rahul Gandhi was granted bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days to let him appeal the decision but was swiftly suspended by the Lok Sabha secretariat. Opposition leaders questioned the “bullet train” speed with which action was taken against him.
Unless Mr Gandhi’s conviction is put on hold by a higher court, the Election Commission will announce a special election for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. He will also not be allowed to contest elections for the next eight years.
The defamation case was filed against Mr Gandhi by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for saying “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?”
Mr Gandhi’s lawyer has argued the court proceedings were “flawed” from the beginning and also said that PM Modi, and not MLA Purnesh Modi, should have been the complainant in the case because the PM was the main target of Rahul Gandhi’s speech.
Days after disqualification, Mr Gandhi was served a notice to vacate his official Delhi bungalow, as he was no longer entitled to it. Congress called the move a ‘conspiracy’ to ‘silence’ Rahul Gandhi as he was asking tough questions in the Parliament on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alleged closeness with industrialist Gautam Adani, whose conglomerate has been accused of “pulling the largest con in corporate history” by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research.
The BJP has called the move lawful, and questioned if Mr Gandhi considered himself above the law. The ruling party has also slammed Mr Gandhi for his remark, terming it an intentional insult to the entire OBC community. It has launched a mega campaign, led by its OBC ministers, on Mr Gandhi’s remark.
The former Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad made the remarks while addressing a rally in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, targetting PM Modi over his last name, which he shares with fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah dismissed the huge outcry, saying Rahul Gandhi was not the only politician who has lost membership of the legislature after being convicted by a court. He said Mr Gandhi should go to a higher court to fight his case. Instead, Mr Shah added, he has been trying to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“He has not appealed to take stay on his conviction. What kind of arrogance is this? You want special privileges? You want to continue as an MP and will also not go before the court,” he said.
The Congress has been accusing the BJP and Prime Minister Modi of assisting the business group in getting projects in its favour, a charge denied by the ruling party.
Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification has brought together a fractured opposition, with even political adversaries joining forces with the grand old party to attack the BJP-ruled Centre for allegedly weaponising central investigative agencies, and vengeful action against Opposition leaders.
Experts have said that a two-year sentence in a criminal defamation case under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, under which Mr Gandhi was convicted, is extremely rare.
An MP/MLA court in Patna has asked Rahul Gandhi to appear for a hearing on April 12 in connection with a petition filed against him over his ‘Modi surname’ remark. This petition was filed against Gandhi in 2019 in Bihar, regarding an objectionable remark made against the last name ‘Modi.’Back in 2019, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had filed a petition before the Special Judge of MP MLA Court, outraged by the comments made by Rahul Gandhi regarding the ‘Modi’ surname, after which the Congress leader was granted bail in the matter till July 6, 2019.It seems BJP is keen to attack every single tool used by INC.BJP was counter attacking Raga by merely ingnorancce.If the filing f cases continues in that case Raga will have another Bharat Jodo yatra across the country but it will be designed and scripted by BJP this time.
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