Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 23: A Surat court on Thursday found the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi guilty in the criminal defamation case for his remarks on “Modi Surname” and sentenced him to two years of imprisonment. The Surat sessions court, however, immediately suspended the implementation of the order for 30 days to allow him to appeal against the order in the higher court and granted him bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000.
Mr. Gandhi, MP from Wayanad in Kerala, was present at the court when the judge passed the verdict. The criminal defamation case was filed against him by the then Surat BJP president and presently a BJP member of the Gujarat Assembly Purnesh Modi for Gandhi’s remarks in an election rally in Karnataka in 2019 which he claimed had “defamed the entire Modi community.”
Purnesh Modi had claimed that Rahul Gandhi while addressing a poll rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019, defamed the entire Modi community by saying “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” apparently alluding to two other economic offenders and fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi. The case was filed in the midst of the 2019 Parliamentary elections in April, 2023.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate H.H. Varma had last week concluded hearing final arguments from both sides and set Thursday to pronounce its judgment in the four-year-old defamation case. Mr Gandhi had last appeared before the Surat court regarding the case, filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (dealing with defamation), in October 2021 to record his statement.
In his first comment after the verdict, Mr Gandhi quoted Mahatma Gandhi, tweeting in Hindi, “My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, non-violence the means to get it.”
His sister and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, “Scared rulers are pulling out all stops to suppress the voice of @RahulGandhi ji. My brother has never been afraid, nor will he ever be. He will continue to speak the 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.”
The Congress party reacted to the developments tweeting that its leader would appeal in the matter and that Mr. Gandhi was “raising his voice against the dictator.” The tweet said the “dictator is horrified by his courage” and is using the ED, police and cases to intimidate Mr. Gandhi.
Speaking about the Surat court’s judgment, senior Congress leader and lawyer Abhishek Singhvi said: “Without getting into the details about the 178-pages-long judgment, I would like to say that this is unsustainable and we would be challenging it before a higher court. However, I would like to state that we have full faith in the judiciary and we will invoke our appellate right and challenge this judgment.”
Addressing the media, Singhvi said: “The court’s verdict is unsustainable. I would like to reiterate that all efforts to throttle free speech that this present Central government has been doing both inside and outside Parliament will not stop Rahul Gandhi or the Congress.”
Mr Gandhi arrived in Surat earlier in the day for the verdict and was received by top leaders of the Congress’s Gujarat unit. He returned to Delhi in the evening.
Supporters and members of the party turned out at various spots in Surat as a show of strength and support for Mr Gandhi, with posters extolling him as ‘Sher-e-Hindustan’ (Lion of India) and placards declaring that the “Congress will not bow before the dictatorship of the BJP” on display.
Following the conviction, Mr Gandhi earned a rare show of support from Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) boss Arvind Kejriwal, who tweeted he “disagreed” with the verdict. “A conspiracy is being hatched to eliminate non-BJP leaders and parties by prosecuting them. We have differences with the Congress, but it is not right to implicate Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case like this. It is the job of the public and the opposition to ask questions. We respect the court but disagree with the decision,” he wrote.
“Truth is put to test and is harassed, but truth alone prevails. Several false cases have been filed against Gandhi, but he will emerge from all these. We will get justice,” said senior Congress leader and MLA Arjun Modhwadia on Thursday.
As per the Representation of the People Act, a person sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified “from the date of such conviction” and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time.
Sources in the Lok Sabha speaker’s office said they would take a call on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as an MP after the order was brought to the table. “If a complaint with the order comes to the table, legal experts will examine and take a decision,” the sources said.
Former Deputy CM of Rajasthan and senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot, while reacting to the verdict of the Surat court, said: “@RahulGandhi Ji is continuously fighting the battle of every section of the country… fighting the battle to save the constitutional institutions. During this, unsuccessful attempts were also made to scare them with gimmicks like ED-CBI. All attempts to intimidate the Congress party and them will fail.”
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel spoke of the barbs such as “Mir Jafar” used by the BJP for Gandhi. Talking to reporters on the Assembly premises, he also accused the BJP-led Centre of attempting to “threaten” and “suppress” constitutional institutions. “The court’s decision is before everyone and bail has also been granted. The fight will continue further,” Baghel said. “But in today’s politics, political sanctity has ended. There can be differences of political ideology but there was mutual respect between leaders earlier. Now it has collapsed,” he said.
Leaders such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ram Manohar Lohia, Rajiv Gandhi had respect for political opponents. Now that political harmony has deteriorated and only the BJP is responsible for it, he said.
“What kind of words were used by the Prime Minister and BJP leaders against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The BJP called Rahul Gandhi Mir Jafar,” Baghel said. The BJP was “scared” of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi, and upset due to the way Rahul Gandhi took out the Bharat Jodo Yatra giving fearless statements and exposing corruption, he said. “The BJP can go to any level (to target him),” the Chhattisgarh CM added.
The BJP, however, continued its attack after the Surat court verdict. Union Minister Piyush Goyal said: “Rahul Gandhi defies and disrespects every democratic institution, whether it is the Parliament or the judiciary. He should come out of this dynastic mindset and realise that no individual is bigger than the country, bigger than the people of India, bigger than the Constitution of India and nobody should consider himself above the law.”
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot claimed the judiciary was under pressure and the Modi surname remark over which the court sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail was just a “political” comment. But at the same time, the Congress veteran said he has faith in the Judiciary and the right verdict will come in time — an apparent reference to the possibility of a higher court overturning the ruling.
Gehlot alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was also misusing agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. “Today there is pressure on Judiciary, pressure on Election Commissions, ED, Income Tax, CBI, which are premium agencies and their credibility used to be huge, are being misused. When such an atmosphere prevails, such rulings are made…every ruling (faisla) is influenced,” he said. “I have full faith in judiciary that the right decision will be taken in the coming time,” the chief minister said.