Indian Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sentenced to two years in prison on Thursday in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname by a court in Gujarat’s Surat.
However, he was granted bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days to let him appeal the decision.
The case was filed against Rahul by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for saying “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?” reports NDTV.
The Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad made the remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, targeting Modi over his last name which he shares with fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
In his first comment after the verdict, 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.”
Rahul arrived in Surat earlier in the day for the verdict and was received by top leaders of the Congress’s Gujarat unit.
Supporters and members of the party turned out at various spots in the city as a show of strength and support for 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.
