On Friday, July 7, the Gujarat High Court upheld the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in the Modi surname defamation case, as a result of which, Gandhi will continue to be disqualified from the Lok Sabha as an MP. The case against him was filed with relation to a statement made by him back in 2019, in which he said, “How come all thieves have the common surname ‘Modi’”?
After the verdict, while the Congress staged protests, has decided to approach the Supreme Court with the plea to stay Gandhi’s conviction, and bashed the BJP for its ‘dictatorship’ and misuse of the judiciary, the BJP has welcomed the Gujarat High Court’s decision, and has asked Rahul Gandhi for an apology. The BJP asked that if the Congress leaders question the harsh punishment for Rahul Gandhi’s statement, they should also ask why he spoke so harshly.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, “The Gujarat High Court order is worthy of welcome. The Congress can now say that why the court has given such a harsh punishment to Rahul Gandhi. To that, we would reply that why Rahul Gandhi committed such a harsh offence”.
“I want to ask Congress that why can’t it control Rahul Gandhi? Why can’t it train him to speak right? When given a chance by the trial court in Surat to apologise, Rahul Gandhi rather chose to remark, ‘I am not Savarkar that I will apologise’. This truly shows the extent of hatred, Rahul has against a great patriot of the country”, Prasad further commented.
Calling Rahul Gandhi, a ‘serial offender’, BJP’s Anil K Antony, said, “As said many times earlier, Rahul Gandhi should apologise for his blunder of calling a whole community thief while he was futilely attempting to personally abuse PM Narendra Modi”.
“As the high court mentioned today, at least 10 other cases including that filed by the grandson of the great freedom fighter Vir Savarkar are still being heard in various benches. Dramatics won’t save anyone including the serial offender Rahul Gandhi in front of the law. Still time to repent and apologise”, added Antony.
BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla, expressed, “Congress party and Rahul Gandhi received a shock once again today. After Sessions Court, Gujarat High Court also showed them a mirror. They insult the OBC community and then instead of apologising, they act out of arrogance. Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the OBC community but instead of that, either his party workers threaten the judge or Congress party questions the judiciary”.