Rahul Gandhi Disqualification: Congress Set To Take Fight To The Streets

The Congress will protest across the country to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party as party leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday after his conviction in a defamation case.

The grand-old party will also approach a sessions court after a Surat court had sentenced Gandhi on Thursday to two years of imprisonment over his remarks on the Modi surname. A day later, the Lok Sabha secretariat formally notified his disqualification as a Member of Parliament.

The case was filed by former Gujarat Minister Purnesh Modi, over the purported remarks Gandhi made in Karnataka's Kolar in 2019. "Why do all the thieves have Modi in their names?" he had asked, during a Lok Sabha election rally.

According to people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, while Gandhi is also set to lose his official residence, the bypoll in Wayanad could also be notified and held in the next few weeks.

Gandhi tweeted that he is fighting for the voice of the country and ready to pay any price for it.

The Congress will also use this opportunity to play the unifying role for bringing together many opposition parties against the BJP, according to party leaders, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Trinamool Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi Party are among several opposition parties that came out in Gandhi's support, even though they have had disagreements with the Congress.

General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Congress units at various levels and frontal organisations would work together to tell the common people how Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership had been deliberately taken away because he was "relentlessly exposing the BJP". "Also, the Bharat Jodo Yatra was not an event, but a movement that has had a transformative impact on Indian politics," Ramesh said.

The BJP has alleged that Gandhi had insulted all Other Backward Class communities through his remarks. It accused Gandhi of not bothering to apologise to any OBC community. The attack comes at a time when OBC politics has heated up in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, amid a row over religious texts like the Ramcharitmanas as well as caste census.

In a nationwide initiative in over one lakh villages from April 6—the BJP's foundation day—to BR Ambedkar's birth anniversary on April 14, the party will highlight the pro-OBC measures taken by the Modi government and the "anti-OBC mindset" of the Congress.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that he had insulted her whole family and the Kashmiri Pandit community by asking them why they don't use the Nehru surname. "But no judge sentenced you to two years and did not disqualify you from Parliament," she said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has already announced that she would go alone in the 2024 elections and not accept a Congress-led leadership, said all opposition leaders have become the prime target of the BJP.

Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao termed it a "dark day" in the history of Indian democracy and urged the opposition to shed their differences and come together to save constitutional values and democracy.

Rao's Delhi counterpart, Arvind Kejriwal said this was not just a Congress fight but one to save the country. Incidentally, the Delhi unit of Congress had welcomed the arrest of Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case, and the national party had put out a reluctant statement only later condemning it mildly.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is yet to comment on Gandhi losing his membership.

SP President Akhilesh Yadav said harassment of opposition leaders had been happening for a while now. "We, in SP, have already faced it with Azam Khan and his son."

The BJP retorted sharply, alleging that Gandhi was a "habitual offender who speaks irresponsibly, often hurting the sentiments of different communities".

BJP President JP Nadda said Gandhi showed a "pathetic and a casteist mindset" by "comparing" OBC communities to thieves. Union Minister Bhupender Yadav said, "Abuse of a community is not akin to criticism".

The politics around OBC communities is a critical part of the campaign of the BJP, which has 27 ministers and three of its 11 parliamentary board members from the community.

Minister Anurag Thakur questioned why Gandhi had not taken adequate legal measures like his colleague, Pawan Khera, did a few days ago or apologised when the hearing was on. He underscored that a court had cautioned the Congress leader to speak responsibly in the Gandhi-Godse matter in 2018.

"Congress has a battery of lawyers. I wonder who wanted relief from Rahul Gandhi? Did some (people) mislead Rahul Gandhi?" Thakur asked. "When legal help could reach Pawan Khera in a few hours, why did Gandhi not take the required measures?"

BJP MP Dharmendra Pradhan highlighted that Sonia Gandhi had also used phrases like "maut ka saudagar" (merchant of death) for Modi. "Their mentality is feudal and of entitlement," the minister said. "They want a separate IPC and law, but this is a democracy where everyone is equal."