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‘Will strengthen INDIA bloc’: Opposition leaders welcome SC ruling on Rahul Gandhi's conviction
Rahul Gandhi was earlier convicted by a local court in Gujarat's Surat under a criminal defamation charge
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Opposition leaders across party lines welcomed Supreme Court's decision to put a stay on Rahul Gandhi's conviction in a criminal defamation case for his ‘Modi surname’ remark. They also slammed the BJP's ‘negative politics’.
The SC bench observed that Gandhi's conviction on the issue has wider ramification since it will also affect the right of those who elected him. He was earlier convicted by a local court in Gujarat's Surat under a criminal defamation charge over a remark made by him during an election rally in 2019. He asked, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?"
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West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said the decision by the apex body will ‘further strengthen the resolve of the INDIA alliance to unitedly fight for our motherland and win’.
“I am happy with the news about the MP-ship of @RahulGandhi This will further strengthen the resolve of the INDIA alliance to unitedly fight for our motherland and win. A victory of the judiciary!” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav quipped and said the SC verdict has boosted people's faith in the Indian democracy and judiciary.
“By staying the sentence of Rahul Gandhi, the Supreme Court has boosted people's faith in Indian democracy and judiciary. The arrogant flag of BJP's negative politics should bow today in mourning of his moral demise,” he wrote in Hindi.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha alleged that there was an attempt to keep Rahul's voice ‘away from the Parliament’ and claimed that the same could have been practiced on other leaders of the country.
Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party (JKPDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti called the Rahul Gandhi's earlier conviction a case ‘with no legs to stand upon’.
“I welcome the SC verdict staying @RahulGandhi’s conviction in a case that had no legs to stand upon. Glad that he will be back in Parliament fighting for the idea of India," she wrote on X.
