BJP slams Rahul Gandhi: The BJP on Friday (July 7) hailed the Gujarat High Court’s decision rejecting Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction in the Modi surname defamation case and said that it is the ‘chronic habit’ of the Congress leader to defame others.
BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Rahul Gandhi displayed ‘irresponsible arrogance’ by refusing to apologise for his ‘Modi surname’ jibe during the election campaign in 2019.
“If he behaves like this and defames people and institutions, the law will catch up with him,” Prasad said at a press conference, adding that those describing the Gujarat’s Surat court’s punishment harsh should answer whe did the Congress leader commit such a ‘harsh’ offense.
“The law has caught up with him,” he said.
He also stressed that there are about eight defamation cases against Rahul Gandhi.
“It has become a chronic habit of Rahul Gandhi to abuse and defame eminent people and organisations,” the former Law Minister said, while also reminding that the Congress leader has also been accused of insulting VD Savarkar and RSS.
Prasad rakes up Rafale case
“Rahul Gandhi had to apologise to the Supreme Court for his claims on the Rafale case, but he later attacked a reporter covering his press conference by calling him a BJP spokesperson,” he said.
Prasad said that it is Rahul Gandhi’s ‘arrogance’ to believe that he is ‘above the law’ as he belongs to the Gandhi family.
He reiterated the BJP's stand that the Congress leader insulted backward castes by allegedly linking those with Modi surname to thieves.
"I want to ask the Congress that why can't it control Rahul Gandhi and train him to speak right? When given a chance by the trial court in Surat to apologise, he instead said, 'I am not Savarkar that I will apologise'. This truly shows the extent of hatred, Rahul has against a great patriot of the country," he added.
When asked about the comments of some Congress leaders that the party will fight the BJP politically, the BJP leader said that his party is prepared to take them on, while adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will again return with popular support in next year’s Lok Sabha coming elections.
He said that any insinuation from Congress leaders that the BJP is to be blamed for Rahul Gandhi's conviction in the case is an insult to the judiciary.
Gujarat High Court's decision
The Gujarat High Court earlier in the day dismissed Gandhi's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.
Justice Hemant Prachchhak noted that Gandhi was already facing 10 criminal cases across India, adding that the order of the lower court was "just, proper and legal" in handing over a two year jail term to Gandhi for his remarks.
There was no reasonable ground to stay the conviction, the high court said.
After the verdict, the Congress party said it would challenge the high court order in the Supreme Court.
A stay on Gandhi's conviction in the case would have paved the way for his reinstatement as a Member of Parliament.
(With PTI inputs)
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