New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will move the Surat Sessions Court early this week, challenging his conviction in the defamation case that led to his disqualification from the Lok Sabha, a senior party leader told The Wire.
While news outlets are reporting that it could be early as tomorrow, Monday, April 3, the senior party leader who spoke to The Wire did not confirm the same. The Congress leader, who did not want to be named, said that Gandhi may personally go to Surat for the appeal.
Gandhi was sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Surjart CJM court, which also gave him a period of 30 days to move a higher court against the order.
On a separate note, another defamation case has been filed against Gandhi by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker at a court in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar. The complainant, Kamal Bhadauria, alleged that a comment made by Gandhi during Bharat Jodo Yatra in January is defamatory towards RSS, Bar and Bench reported. Gandhi had referred to RSS workers as “Kauravas of the twenty-first century”.
“You (Rahul Gandhi) are fully aware of what a heinous act the Kauravas have done, yet you called the hardworking, dedicated, and self-sacrificing Sangh like RSS as Kauravas and also said that these people do not say, ‘Har Har Mahadev’, don’t say ‘Jai Shri Ram’ which shows your disgusting mentality,” the complainant said.
Referring to Gandhi’s statement as “disgusting”, the complainant alleged that Gandhi had referred RSS workers to “Kauravas wear khaadi half-pants and carry stick in their hands”.
He also objected to Gandhi’s statement made during Bharat Jodo Yatra, where he had said that India belongs to Tapasvis and not Pujaris. This, the complainant alleged, divided the Sanatanis into Tapasvis and Pujaris while hurting the sentiments of the people of India. The matter will be held in Haridwar court on April 12.
In another defamation case filed against Gandhi in Patna in 2019, a local court directed him on Friday, March 31, to appear before it on April 19. The complainant, in this case, is BJP senior leader from Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi, who said that Gandhi’s “all thieves have Modi surname” comment was defamatory.
Most importantly, with Gandhi’s conviction in the defamation case filed in Surat court, a protracted legal battle is likely to continue through various assembly election campaigns and perhaps the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress, however, has planned a series of political protests against the conviction and has projected Gandhi’s conviction and subsequent disqualification from the Lok Sabha as a symptom of the increasing attacks on the democratic structure and institutions of the country under the Narendra Modi regime.
The political fallout of Gandhi’s conviction and disqualification has been so tremendous that even Congress’s rivals like Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) have come together on a common platform to stage protests against the Union government across the country.