New Delhi: Soon after the parliament disqualified Rahul Gandhi as Member of Parliament, various politicians on Friday spoke up in support of the Congress leader and condemned the parliament’s move.
AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called members of the BJP ‘cowards’ “The most corrupt PM in the history of India and the most unread PM in the country is not able to run the country,” he said.
BRS working president and Telangana minister KT Rama Rao, tweeted, “Disqualification of @RahulGandhi Ji is a blatant misinterpretation of Constitution. The hastiness showed in this issue is highly undemocratic. I condemn this!.”
PDP chief and former JK CM Mehbooba Mufti remarked that the Government of India is ‘clearly rattled’ by the Wayanad MP for emerging as a ‘powerful challenger’ pre-2024 elections.
“GOI is clearly rattled by RG for emerging as a powerful challenger pre-2024 elections. Since BJP can’t fight him politically, they are now subverting institutions because he refuses to do a Savarkar. The apprehensions he voiced in London are tragically being proven right,” she remarked.
TMC supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee called the disqualification a ‘new low’ to India’s constitutional democracy.
“In PM Modi’s New India, Opposition leaders have become the prime target of BJP! While BJP leaders with criminal antecedents are inducted into the cabinet, Opposition leaders are disqualified for their speeches. Today, we have witnessed a new low for our constitutional democracy,” she tweeted.
Earlier on Thursday, the Surat District Court sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him for allegedly making remarks about the “Modi surname.”
The court immediately granted him bail and postponed the execution of its judgement for a 30-day term so the Congress leader could appeal to a higher court.
The accusation against Gandhi stemmed from comments he made at a Lok Sabha election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, on April 13, 2019. BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi had fled the complaint.
“Why all the thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi, have Modi in their names,” the Congress leader had allegedly said during the rally.
Reacting to the court order outside Parliament on Thursday, GoI Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Congress was “suffering” because of Gandhi’s “attitude”.
“Whatever Rahul Gandhi says always affects Congress party and the entire nation in a negative way,” he told news agency ANI.
Gandhi had last appeared before the Surat court in the case, filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (dealing with defamation), in October 2021 to record his statement.
