Ashish Ranjan
Rahul Gandhi after disqualification: Friday, in response to his disqualification as a member of the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stated that he will pay any price to restore the country’s voice.Gandhi tweeted in Hindi, “I am fighting for the voice of India and am willing to pay any price for it.”
His tweet followed his disqualification as a member of the Lok Sabha on Friday morning. Thursday’s disqualification followed Rahul’s conviction in a 2019 defamation case by a Surat court.The disqualified Congress MP was sentenced to two years in prison for using the surname ‘Modi’ during a campaign event in Karnataka for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
मैं भारत की आवाज़ के लिए लड़ रहा हूं।
मैं हर कीमत चुकाने को तैयार हूं।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 24, 2023
However, the court later granted him parole with a Rs 15,000 surety and suspended his sentence for 30 days, allowing him to appeal his conviction to a higher court.In the meantime, the Congress lashed out at the Centre on Friday over Rahul’s disqualification as a Lok Sabha member, labeling it a “strangulation of democracy” and expressing confidence that the disqualification will be overturned by a stay on his conviction by a higher court.
The party alleged that Rahul’s disqualification is part of a “pattern” to prevent him from speaking out against the Central government, as well as an effort to divert public attention away from genuine issues.Congress national spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi and senior leader Jairam Ramesh lashed out at the Centre for disqualifying the former national party president during a press conference held at the party’s headquarters in the nation’s capital.
“The issue before us is more political than legal.” It is a political issue because it represents the ruling party’s systematic and repeated emasculation of democratic institutions. It represents the suffocation of democracy itself. We are aware that defamation is an exception to the right to free speech, but in recent years we have witnessed a number of unthinkable attacks on freedom of speech and, more significantly, freedom after speech. We are all aware that Rahul Gandhi has spoken without fear in and out of Parliament. “He is paying the price,” Singhvi stated.
He stated that the government was employing new techniques to silence Rahul Gandhi.
“This administration is shaken because he presents facts and figures regarding demonetisation. Be it the alleged clean bill of health for China or the Goods and Services Tax, he is consistently aggressive and forthright in his interrogation. Therefore, this administration is developing new methods to muzzle his voice, Singhvi claimed.
Also Read |Rahul Gandhi disqualified as Lok Sabha MP after conviction
Singhvi stated that the Congress leader does not have the right to speak freely due to his “fake and imaginary nationalism” in response to the harsh criticism from the BJP regarding Rahul Gandhi’s recent comments on Indian democracy in the United Kingdom.
