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Congress playing with democracy: Scindia
Scindia accused the Congress of pressuring and intimidating the judiciary by taking its army of leaders and supporters to Surat amid Gandhi's appeal in a court.
Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi, alleging the party is projecting the “personal legal battle” of Gandhi as a fight for democracy.
“They are doing everything to stay politically relevant. This is not a fight for democracy but an individual. Any criticism of this falls short,” he told reports.
Also read: 'How Rahul Gandhi's personal legal fight becomes...' Jyotiraditya Scindia
Scindia’s comments come in the wake of continuous protests by the Congress against the disqualification of Gandhi from the Lok Sabha. Gandhi was disqualified as a member of Parliament on March 24, a day after he was sentenced to two years in jail by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.
Scindia accused the Congress of pressuring and intimidating the judiciary by taking its army of leaders and supporters to Surat when Gandhi filed appeal in a court there earlier this week.
“A special honour is being given to Rahul ji by the Congress. When he went for bail, he took the entire army of leaders. If this is not an attempt to pressure the court, then what is?” the minister said. “In the last few days, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party are putting pressure on the judiciary ; they have made his personal legal fight into a fight for democracy.”
Scindia, who quit the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2020, further said that Rahul Gandhi was not the first parliamentarian to be disqualified from the Lok Sabha.
“(Late AIADMK chief) Jayalalithaa and (Samajwadi Party leader) Azam Khan were disqualified in past,” Scindia said. “But why is there is so much hue and cry this time? Why are people wearing black clothes?”
Congress MPs have protested Gandhi’s disqualification by sporting black.
Reacting to Scindia’s comments, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said: “When Mr Scindia talks about doing things to stay politically relevant, I can think of his own example. To stay politically relevant, he changed his party, he changed his friends, he changed his loyalties and he is giving us a lecture on how to stay politically relevant.”
Khera added: “As far as pressurising the judiciary is concerned, Union law minister Kiren Rijiju is constantly issuing threats to the judiciary, so we should ask Mr Scindia to advice his colleague to not threaten and pressurise the judiciary.”
His reference is to Rijiju’s constant criticism of the Supreme Court’s collegium model of judicial appointments.
Also read: 'India to become largest aviation market in next decade,' says Scindia
Khera said the Congress is fighting to demand for a JPC (joint parliamentary committee) probe into allegations of wrongdoing by the Adani Group and against a conspiracy to shun Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress and other opposition parties have been seeking the creation of a JPC to look into the report by Hindenburg Research that alleged that the Adani Group indulged in fraud and stock price manipulation. The group’s promoter Gautam Adani is seen to be close to Prime Minister Modi.
On Monday, a sessions court in Surat admitted Rahul Gandhi’s plea against conviction in the 2019 criminal defamation case that saw him expelled from Parliament. The court extended his bail till April 13, the next date of hearing on the plea.
