Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday held a meeting with 30 senior leaders at his residence to discuss the situation arising out of the conviction of former party chief Rahul Gandhi by a Surat court in a defamation case. They also deliberated on the subject of whether Mr. Gandhi should attend Parliament or stay away until he gets a relief from a competent court.
Following the meeting of leaders at Mr. Kharge’s residence, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh announced that the Congress president would convene a meeting of floor leaders of like-minded parties at 10 a.m. on Friday and, thereafter, they would march down to Vijay Chowk.
Mr. Ramesh said the Opposition parties have also sought time from the President of India to submit a memorandum and in the evening, the Congress chief would meet with the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chiefs and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leaders to chalk out next steps.
“We will fight this battle legally with all the rights and remedies we have but this is also a political fight and we will take them head on,” Mr. Ramesh said.
Taking to Twitter, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “A scared machinery of power is trying to suppress the voice of Rahul Gandhi through saam, daam, dand, bhed (every trick in the book). My brother has never been afraid, nor will he ever be. He has lived his life speaking the truth, will continue to speak the truth, will continue to raise the voice of the people of the country”.
In a tweet in Hindi, Mr. Kharge said, “Coward, dictatorial BJP government is incensed at Rahul Gandhi and Opposition because we are exposing their misdeeds and demanding a JPC. Under its political bankruptcy, the Modi government sends police and the ED [Enforcement Directorate], and imposes cases on political speeches.”
Supreme Court advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said, “Make no mistake... All your [the government] attempts to create a chilling effect, a throttling effect, a strangulating effect on open fearless speech relating to public interest, will not stop either Shri Rahul Gandhi or the Congress Party.”
Pointing out flaws in the court order, Mr. Singhvi argued that the basic principle of a criminal defamation law requires defamatory statements to be against a specific person but Mr. Gandhi’s was a generic statement and didn’t have any malafide intent as required to be prosecuted under the law.
He also questioned the Surat Court’s jurisdiction as the statement was made in Kolar (Karnataka). “Without meaning to be tactical, there is an established provision, which has been expounded and elaborated by several Supreme Court judgements, called Section 202, precisely created to prevent mischievous prosecution complaints in areas without jurisdiction, where no cause of action has arisen. Clearly, Kolar speech has no connection with Surat,” Mr. Singhvi said.
