Finally, the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was reinstated to the Parliament on Monday following the Supreme Court’s stay order on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his Modi surname remark. BJP had tried everything possible for Gandhi not to be reinstated but he got justice in the country’s top court. Of course, further hearing is yet to be held regarding the punishment and the stay is on punishment of sentencing him to two years in jail. This judgment was pivotal as this conviction had led to Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha. If he was to be reinstated to the Parliament then the conviction had to be either cancelled or stayed. Rahul and his team were struggling to bring a stay on his conviction which is why they had approached Gujarat High Court. Not only did Gujarat HC refuse to stay the conviction, but also upheld the Surat court’s judgment. Therefore approaching the Supreme Court was the last resort for Gandhi.
One question after judgments of Surat court and Gujarat High Court that bothered many was why the maximum punishment of sentencing two years in jail was given to Gandhi in a defamation case? On what basis was the punishment given? Why was it not less than two years? Due to this, people’s interpretation was that the government wanted Gandhi to lose his parliament membership and incidents that followed were hinting towards the same. Firstly, this case was pending dead in the court and it was revived out of the blue. It has the background of Gandhi’s speech over Adani in the Lok Sabha. It’s after this speech the petitioner Purnesh Modi withdrew his demand of stay in Gujarat High Court.
Later, a court in Surat heard the petition and even gave its judgment merely within a few days. This judgment created a few questions as well. Rahul Gandhi had made his remarks over Modi surname while campaigning for 2019 Lok Sabha polls while in Karnataka. BJP leader Purnesh Modi approached a court in Surat. Now, the incident happened in Karnataka where Gandhi’s statement had names of Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi in it. The one who approached the court was named Purnesh Modi and he did so in Gujarat instead of Karnataka, where the incident had taken place. This raised many eyebrows. The pace at which things moved was suspicious, which is why apart from Congress, the common men were asking questions too.
What crime had Rahul Gandhi committed that he was disqualified as member of Lok Sabha? He had merely made a statement much like most of the political leaders do. There have been statements made by the politicians which are truly defamatory but they were not sentenced to jail for two years. Gandhi’s case was first and only of its kind to have received such a hefty penalty. BJP leaders’ response over the entire situation was that whatever happened, happened so according to the judgment of the court. However, reality points at a contradictory picture. The pace at which Gandhi was disqualified was suspicious and concerning. He was disqualified within 24 hours after the court in Surat gave its judgment. A few days later his government residence was taken away from him as well. This promptness was shown only in Rahul Gandhi’s case, which is why commoners had their questions.
The Apex court while ordering stay on his conviction by Surat court and Gujarat High Court asked the question which local people meant to ask. Both the courts did not state justifiable causes, while convicting Gandhi. That means the Supreme Court’s judgment proved that the question raised by people, Congress and all the Opposition parties was apt. Now, the Lok Sabha Speaker had to reinstated Rahul Gandhi to Parliament. Interestingly, the Speaker did not show the same quickness now the way he had done while disqualifying him. Of course, he benefited from two holidays which came in between. At last his disqualification was revoked on Monday. It would be interesting to see if the similar urgency will be shown in the case of BJP MP Ram Shankar Katheria. Katheria was held guilty of assault and rioting for thrashing the staff of Torrent Power Limited. That means the case was of criminal nature. However, he was saved from disqualification after a session court in Agra stayed the conviction. The Surat court had given Rahul Gandhi 30 days to challenge the judgement however his membership was revoked within 24 hours of the judgment. The double standards are deplorable.
