- Thursday, February 27, 2025
Soon after the court ruling, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury met Speaker Om Birla and urged him to reinstate Gandhi as an MP at the earliest.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S opposition Indian National Congress on Friday (4) was ecstatic after the Supreme Court of India stayed the conviction of its leader Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 ‘Modi surname’ defamation case earlier in the day.
The opposition leader was convicted by a court in Surat in the western state of Gujarat over his remark made at an election rally in the southern state of Karnataka in 2019, uttering “why do all thieves have their surname as Modi?” to make an indirect attack on prime minister Narendra Modi by linking him with fugitive Indian businessman Nirav Modi and former cricket administrator Lalit Modi.
The grand-old party of Indian politics called the ruling as a victory of truth, democracy and the Constitution, with Gandhi, who was disqualified as a member of the Indian parliament following the conviction, asserting that he will continue to protect the ‘idea of India’.
Party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling as a “victory of the people” and said that while just 24 hours were taken to disqualify Gandhi from the Lok Sabha or Lower House of the Indian parliament after his conviction, it is to be seen how long will it take to reinstate him after the apex court relief.
Soon after the court ruling, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury met Speaker Om Birla and urged him to reinstate Gandhi at the earliest.
“We have met the Lok Sabha speaker and have urged him to restore Gandhi’s membership in Lok Sabha after the Supreme Court has granted him relief. We want that Rahul Gandhi should speak on the ‘no-confidence motion’ against the government in the Lok Sabha on August 8,” he said.
Gandhi, who was accorded a grand welcome by party workers at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi soon after the court ruling, briefly addressed the media saying, “Truth always triumphs, if not today then tomorrow or the day after. I thank people for their support.”
“My path is clear to me (as to) what is my work, there is clarity in my mind about that. I thank the people who helped us and the people for their love and support that they extended,” he told reporters. “Come what may, my duty remains the same. Protect the idea of India,” Gandhi said in a post on X, formerly called Twitter.
Ecstatic party workers at the AICC headquarters danced to the beats of drums, distributed sweets and unfurled the Congress flag to welcome Gandhi.
The former Congress chief visited the party office along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who earlier tweeted citing a quote by Gautam Buddha – “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
Congress spokesperson and Gandhi’s counsel Abhishek Singhvi asserted that any delay in Rahul Gandhi’s reinstatement as a Lok Sabha member on account of “excuses” by the government would be mala fide, unfair and “completely contrary to the heart and soul of parliamentary democracy”.
Kharge said, “It is a day of happiness, democracy has won, Constitution has won, Satymeva Jayate.” “This is the victory of the common people. This is not just Rahul Gandhi’s victory, this is the victory of all the people of the country, victory of democracy and of constitutional principles.”
“The Constitution is alive and this is an example that one can get justice. This is the victory of the common people and of constitutional principles,” he added.
“The person who fights for truth, for the country’s interest, to strengthen the country, for the youth of the country, against rising prices, the person who fights and makes people aware, who walked 4,000 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and met various people, I think their prayers are with us and it is, therefore, victory of the people,” the Congress chief said.
(With agency inputs)
