The leader of India’s opposition party, Congress, Rahul Gandhi, in Jammu, India, Monday January 23, 2023. CHANNI ANAND / AP
An Indian court on Thursday (23 March) found opposition leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of defamation over his comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
The trial of Gandhi that earned him these lawsuits dates back to a 2019 campaign rally where he said, “Why do all thieves have Modi as their last name? In his speech, he named runaway Indian diamond tycoon Nirav Modi, banned Indian Premier League boss Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi. The latter is not related to either of the other two.
The defamation lawsuit against Gandhi was brought by a leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party in West Gujarat state. The plaintiff, Purnesh Modi, said Gandhi’s remarks “defamed the entire Modi community. Modi is a common surname in the western state of Gujarat.
Rahul Gandhi, who was present at the hearing of the verdict in court in Surat, Gujarat (West), said his comments were aimed at “exposing corruption in the country” and were therefore not directed against a community to his lawyer BM Mangukiya. After the latter immediately announced that he would appeal, Mr. Gandhi will not go to jail immediately.
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Modi’s government is ‘cowardly and dictatorial’
Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Mr Gandhi’s Congress party, called Modi’s government “cowardly and dictatorial”. After the verdict, Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter: “My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, and non-violence is the means of attaining it. »
Narendra Modi, in power since 2014, was easily re-elected to a second term with his Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is regularly accused of wanting to neutralize his opponents through a variety of legal proceedings.
Rahul Gandhi, 52, comes from the family of the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who gave India three prime ministers, and is the subject of two other defamation trials. He is also involved in an alleged money laundering case, which he denies.
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