Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said if Rahul Gandhi has the right to ‘disrespect’ or ‘abuse’ someone then anybody who is ‘at dismay’ due to it has the right to file a defamation case against him. Prasad was referring to a tweet the Congress MP shared quoting Mahatma Gandhi after Surat court gave a two-year sentence to him over his 2019 comment on ‘Modi surname’.
“The law of India is that if an individual or an organisation has been defamed by a defamatory comments, abuses, scurrilious and scandalous comments, then he has got the right to seek address but Congress has an objection to it,” the BJP MP said at a press conference.
A local court in Surat sentenced Rahul Gandhi over his earlier comment in Karnataka during 2019 Lok Sabha election where he wondered how come ‘all thieves have Modi surnames’. The verdict has been suspended for 30 days, as the Congress MP prepares to appeal against the order. The BJP MP further alleged that the Congress wants ‘complete freedom’ for Rahul Gandhi to ‘utter abuses’. “The country is ruled by law and it will remain that way,” he added. This comes at a time when the BJP has been demanding apology from Rahul Gandhi over his recent remarks on Indian democracy during his UK visit. The ongoing Budget session has seen continuous disruptions of business over this issue.
Rahul Gandhi shared a post quoting Mahatma Gandhi amid the Surat court’s verdict which talks about ‘truth and non-violence’. Opposition leaders have also criticised the Surat court’s verdict and said it won’t ‘silence the voices (of those) who speak for people and refuse to be ji-huzoor of the government’.Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera criticised the BJP and said ‘Shah and Shanshah’ want a ‘silent opposition’ in the country and added that Rahul Gandhi will continue to question the government.
