It cannot be a coincidence that the lower court that had convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for defamation and the High Court single-judge Bench that subsequently refused to suspend the lower court’s order of his conviction are located in Gujarat. The most astounding aspect of the HC verdict is the fact that it failed to make out the difference between Rahul’s remark and the charge levelled against him.
The fact is the Congress leader, during an election campaign in 2019, sought to expose the two fugitives – Nirav and Lalit Modi – who had allegedly looted hundreds of crores of taxpayers’ money and fled the country, while the Prime Minister patronised Gautam Adani allegedly involved in multi-million dollar worth scams. His target seemed to be these “thieves” – a handful of alleged perpetrators of colossal fraud with the last names Modi. What Rahul had said could be considered legitimate criticism of government policies and alleged patronage of a few corrupt men. This pertains to freedom of speech and expression, articulated especially during a key process of preserving democracy, namely elections.
The lower court in Surat held Rahul guilty of the charge of defamation and slapped the maximum sentence under the relevant sections. The punishment is patently disproportionate to the alleged crime. The motive for awarding the sentence at once became clear as it is linked with the minimum jail term one has to serve to be disqualified from remaining a Member of Parliament. It left no one in doubt as to the government’s intent to deny Rahul Gandhi the opportunity to expose the Modi government’s various acts of omission and commission on the floor of the Parliament – as he was doing prior to this event. Allowing Rahul to use such a platform to mobilise public opinion against the government may, as the BJP seems to be scared, seriously harm the prospect of Modi’s victory third time in a row in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The judiciary adjudicating the case seems to have lost sight of this fact and sought to put the seal of approval to the government’s resolve to keep Rahul out of the Parliament and electoral politics for six years as the legal provision entails. The judge in Gujarat HC, Hemant Prachchhak, called Rahul’s conviction “just, proper and legal” and said “no injustice” would be done to the politician by refusing to grant his plea. Rahul’s lawyer confirmed they would now take the case up to Supreme Court seeking a stay on the conviction so his client could contest in the next general elections.
The judge’s observations in the case appear to reflect a biased mind. For, he brought up other pending cases filed against Rahul Gandhi which have yet to be heard by the courts and were unrelated to the defamation case. What is even worse is the judge’s sermon that there was a “need for purity in politics.” If purity be the issue, then the judge could have landed himself in a tight spot due to his wordings. He would then be required to go after BJP ministers and leaders, some of whom have in the past openly exhorted their followers to gun down government critics. The nation still remembers the ‘Goli maaro saalon ko’ call. It was definitely aimed at a certain minority community and the perpetrators did walk away unscathed. While today some of us may sit back and think it is ‘not us’ but ‘them’, deep down all of us are also aware that tomorrow the sword, most likely, could fall on us too.
The case of defamation against Rahul Gandhi is not merely a personal matter. What is of concern is the government’s repeated attempts to weaponise the judiciary as part of its attacks on the political Opposition, government critics and the civil society.
Preventing Rahul Gandhi from contesting the coming Lok Sabha elections and shutting him out from the precincts of the Parliament only shows how the ruling dispensation is scared of Rahul Gandhi. That Rahul has committed many faux pas is also an accepted fact. The former MP and former All India Congress Committee President has exposed his immaturity very many times and those set his party back by a long way each time.
For example, the tremendous achievements of his padayatra titled Bharat Jodo Yatra may have been an important cause for the Congress winning Karnataka. However, sadly for the Congress, instead of continuing the battle, Rahul left for the UK with Sam Pitroda and spoke against the current Indian setup on alien soil. Such acts have undermined the confidence that was building up in Rahul’s favour among many in India.