Rahul Gandhi defamation case: Congress trying to exert ‘pressure on judiciary’, says BJP
The Congress is staging a “drama” and is trying to exert “pressure on the judiciary”, the BJP alleged on Monday, as members of the Grand Old Party accompanied party leader Rahul Gandhi to a Surat court to file an appeal against his conviction in a 2019 defamation case.
The Congress is staging a “drama” and is trying to exert “pressure on the judiciary”, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged on Monday, as members of the Grand Old Party accompanied party leader Rahul Gandhi to a Surat court to file an appeal against his conviction in a 2019 defamation case.
The Congress, however, dismissed the charge as “absurd” and asserted that one who attends the court is not a source of pressure.
Gandhi, who was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison by a Surat court in a 2019 defamation case on March 23, was accompanied by his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and top leaders to Surat.
Among those who accompanied Gandhi were Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his Chhattisgarh counterpart, Bhupesh Baghel and former Union minister Ajay Maken.
Due to his conviction, Gandhi was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad on March 24.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said: “My point is very simple – why is the Congress party trying to put this kind of undue pressure on the judiciary? There are means and ways to deal with judicial matters. But is this the way?”
He added: “They (Congress) are doing a drama to threaten the judiciary. I condemn it. The Congress party considers a family above the country.”
Earlier in the day, Rijiju hit out at Gandhi for his “childish attempt to bring pressure on the appellate court”.
“Rahul Gandhi might be going to Surat to file an appeal. It is not required of a convict to go personally to file an appeal. Generally, no convict goes personally. His going personally with a motley group of leaders and aides accompanying him is only a drama,” he said in a series of tweets.
“What Rahul Gandhi is doing is also a childish attempt to bring pressure on the appellate court. All courts in the country are immune from such tactics,” he added.
Union minister Anurag Thakur also hit out at the Congress and sought to know if “one family is bigger than the country”.
“India won’t tolerate the insult of backwards (Other Backward Classes). Earlier, PV Narasimha Rao, P Chidambaram, D K Shivakumar went to jail too, how many Congress people went with them? Is one family bigger than the country?” he said.
BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said that after “insulting the OBC community by his casteist comments at a public rally in Surat in 2019, Rahul is going there to add salt to fire”.
“You are exerting pressure on the judiciary, you were given a chance to apologise for your cuss words against the OBC community members. But instead, you are going to augment the kind of words used against OBCs. Rahul Gandhi was given a chance by the local court to seek forgiveness, you (Rahul) said you won’t. Why such arrogance,” he told a press conference in the national capital.
“The way your people attack the judiciary, why such hatred for Indian democracy? Now you go out to insult Indian democracy. Look at the audacity,” he added.
Continuing his attack on Gandhi, Patra said: “Rahul Gandhi, his family members, chief ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel are going to Surat and will be creating mayhem in the name of appealing (against the two-year sentence) verdict. What’s the need for this ruckus?” he said.
The Congress dismissed the BJP’s allegations as “absurd”.
“That is an absurd allegation. First of all, who attends the court is not a source of pressure,” senior leader and former Union minister Shashi Tharoor said.
“If at all there is a source of pressure on the judiciary, I think we can all guess where that is likely to come from,” he added.
Tharoor also said that Gandhi is the principal political leader of a major opposition party, so it is appropriate to put up a show of strength but ultimately, the soundness of the arguments of lawyers inside the courtroom is what prevails.
“Who comes to the court is not going to decide a case, it is what is argued in the court that is going to decide and that is essentially for us the principal reason why it has taken a week for the lawyers to prepare a very robust and sound defence,” he said.
