New Delhi: Union Law minister Kiren Rijiju fired a fresh salvo at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Thursday after the German Foreign Ministry took note of the latter’s disqualification from Parliament.
A spokesperson for the ministry said Wednesday that it took note of the “suspension” of Rahul’s “parliamentary mandate”, while also noting that he can appeal against the verdict.
“We expect the standards of judicial independence and fundamental democratic principles will equally apply to the proceedings against Rahul Gandhi,” the spokesperson said during a press briefing.
She added, “We have taken note of the verdict of first instance against Indian opposition politician Rahul Gandhi as well as the suspension of his parliamentary mandate. To our knowledge, Mr. Gandhi is in a position to appeal the verdict. It will then become clear whether this verdict stands and whether the suspension of his mandate has any basis.”
Reacting to the statements on Twitter, Rijiju accused Rahul of “inviting foreign powers for interference into India’s internal matters”. He cited a tweet by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh thanking the German Foreign Ministry for taking note of the disqualification.
“Thank you Rahul Gandhi for inviting foreign powers for interference into India’s internal matters. Remember, Indian Judiciary can’t be influenced by foreign interference. India won’t tolerate ‘foreign influence’ anymore because our Prime Minister is:- Shri @narendramodi Ji (sic),” Rijiju wrote.
Rijiju’s line of argument took forward allegations the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been levelling against Rahul since his trip to the UK last month. In his multiple interactions with the diaspora during the visit, Gandhi had said that Indian democracy is “under attack”.
Thereafter, the BJP demanded that Rahul apologise for his comments on the floor of the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Budget session of Parliament. The session remained largely disrupted as the opposition, in response to the BJP’s demand for an apology, pushed its own demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on the Adani issue.
On 23 March, a local court in Surat convicted former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case for remarks he made on the ‘Modi community’ in a 2019 election speech in Karnataka. In the speech, while referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, Rahul asked why “all thieves have the Modi surname”.
On 24 March, the Lok Sabha secretariat issued a notification stating that Rahul had been disqualified as an MP due to his conviction in the case. The very next day, he was asked to vacate his official bungalow within 30 days by the Lok Sabha House committee.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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