A Surat court, in Gujarat, has thrown the Congress into a tizzy. Opposition leader and its former President Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP on Friday, following the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma, 24 hours earlier convicted him in a 2019 criminal defamation case for his remark, “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” at an election rally in Karnataka. Found guilty under IPC sections 499 and 500, the court, however, granted him bail and suspended the sentence of two years in jail for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.

If a higher court does not stay his conviction and sentence, Rahul would not be able to contest elections for eight years! Gandhi, the court had said could have limited his speech to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi, and Anil Ambani, but he “intentionally” made a statement that hurt individuals carrying the Modi surname, and thereby committed criminal defamation. It was hearing a complaint filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi.
 
Following the verdict, BJP functionaries from the ‘Teli’ (oil-pressing) caste and leaders of the community who largely have the surname of ‘Modi’ demanded an apology from Rahul and warned of an agitation.

However, Rahul has refused to apologise. He tweeted: “My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God, non-violence the means to get it — Mahatma Gandhi.” The Congress will be filing an appeal as well as fighting back politically, as such cases it claimed: “were an outcome of the BJP’s malafide intent and malice to crush any political dissent in India.

”The silver siling is that Opposition leaders of DMK, TMC, AAP, NCP, JMM, and RJD, among others are on the same page. Statements of support are pouring in: “The action against Gandhi is an occasion for a fight, not fright and all parties opposed to BJP must come together without delay”; “In PM Modi’s New India, opposition leaders have become a prime target.

While BJP leaders with criminal antecedents are inducted into the Cabinet, Opposition leaders are disqualified for their speeches”; “Today, we have witnessed a new low for our constitutional democracy”; “it’s the murder of democracy and this is the beginning of the end of dictatorship”; “It has become a crime to call a thief a thief, while those looting the country are out”; “The sentence against Rahul was announced yesterday and within a day he is now disqualified from Lok Sabha! Nothing short of a surgical strike on democracy! Time for the entire opposition to rally against this unbridled emergency!”
 
The saffron party said that it was a legal issue and not that of the BJP! Is anyone getting fooled? The big question is what course this defamation and disqualification case take. For starters, should one read signs of the Rahul Gandhi case boomeranging into a long-drawn “Opposition jodo yatra”?