Political slugfest enters new phase with Rahul Gandhi conviction

As the BJP explores ways and means to rein in Wayanad MP and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who has unleashed a verbal offensive against the saffronists in India and abroad, it received a shot in the arm from a court in Surat, Gujarat which on Thursday sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his “why all thieves have Modi surname” remark.

 The hostility between the ruling Modi-led BJP and Rahul assumed a new dimension ever since Gandhi commented on the state of the Indian democracy in London, along with his tirades against the AdaniModi nexus and corruption of the Adani group, after the Hindenburg report became public.

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma, which held Gandhi guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500, also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.  As per Section 8(1) (m) of the Representation of the People Act 1951, a person sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified “from the date of such conviction” and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time.

The disqualification, however, does not kick in for three months as per the RP Act, and if an appellate court grants a stay on his conviction or sentence or both within this period, then Gandhi’s disqualification stands stayed till the disposal of the hearing of the case. However, it is only the appellate court that can do this and not the court which convicted him. It is interesting to note that the Modi government in 2015, amended the RP Act, and deleted certain sections, particularly those dealing with convicted persons, or those having served a sentence as was prevalent in the 2003 version of the RPA.

While Gandhi, in the eye of the storm awaits his appeal in the appellate court and his political destiny, the Congress has hit back at the Prime Minister by invoking “privilege proceedings” against him for making “derogatory, insulting, distasteful and defamatory” remarks against the Wayanad MP and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the floor of the House.

The move, seen as a bid to counter the BJP offensive against Rahul, was initiated by Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal who termed Modi’s remarks as “preposterous”. Venugopal approached Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar with a notice of a question of privilege against the PM under Rule 188 of the Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Upper House. The Congress’s counter hinges on the PM’s comments made during his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in February on the “family” not using the “Nehru” surname.

The Congress has also questioned the decision not to expunge the PM’s remarks from the records of the Lok Sabha, contrasting it with the Speaker’s move to remove from the records certain comments Rahul Gandhi had made on the Adani Group and PM Modi. In all probability, the ruling party will find a way out to save the Prime Minister from the “privilege proceedings” initiated against him but it remains to be seen if Gandhi will be lucky enough to get a stay on the Surat court verdict against him.