Days after he was handed a two year jail term by a Gujarat court, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is facing a fresh defamation case. A complaint was filed with a Haridwar court on Friday in connection with remarks made by the former MP during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Gandhi had described the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) as “21st century Kauravas” during an address in January.
The case comes mere days after Gandhi’s conviction and consequent disqualification from the Lok Sabha. The senior politician had been sentenced in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his “why all thieves have Modi surname” remarks. More recently, he was also summoned by a Bihar special court in connection with a separate criminal defamation case filed by Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Gandhi faces a third defamation case in Maharashtra’s Thane for a 2014 speech where he had allegedly accused the RSS of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. The case was filed by an RSS activist and recently saw the complainant oppose Gandhi’s application for permanent exemption from appearing in the court.
The ousted MP had also faced flak over his remarks against VD Savarkar in recent days, with many BJP and Shiv Sena leaders including Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde calling for him to be ‘punished’ for his comments.
Following his conviction, Gandhi was given 30 days to appeal his conviction before the two year sentence would kick in. While the Congress is yet to take action, it has repeatedly indicated that its legal team was working on the issue.
“Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha was the darkest day in the history of Indian democracy. There are various legal issues in the judgement of the trial court, however, those will be dealt with at the appropriate platform by our legal team,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said recently.
The issue – one in a series of flashpoints between the Congress party and the ruling BJP – has however served to united numerous opposition parties. Many of them accuse the Centre of diverting attention from the Adani-Hindenburg issue.
