India’s leading opposition figure Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified as a member of parliament. The disqualification came a day after a court in Surat in India’s Gujarat state convicted him for two years in a defamation case.
“Rahul Gandhi … stands disqualified from the member of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction,” a notice issued by the parliament said on Friday, referring to the lower house.
Gandhi reacted in a tweet and said, “Fighting for India’s voice” and that he “would pay whatever price for it.”
Gandhi, 52, the great-grandson of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was found guilty by the Surat court for a remark he made in Karnataka before the 2019 parliament election, in which he questioned: “how all thieves have Modi surnames.”
Gandhi’s remark prompted Purnesh Modi, a BJP lawmaker from Gujarat, to file a criminal defamation case against him for allegedly defaming the “Modi community.” Incidentally, there is no Modi community in India.
The Surat court sentenced Rahul Gandhi to two years in prison on March 23, stating that it “found Rahul Gandhi’s comment to be defamatory.”
However, he was granted a 30-day bail to allow his appeal to a higher court.
Earlier on Friday, congress members protested against Gandhi’s conviction and two-year prison term in some parts of the country.
Meanwhile, Congress officials have described the court order as politically driven and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of targeting political opponents.
