Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the main opposition Congress party, was disqualified by India’s parliament on Friday; the day after a court sentenced him to two years in prison for defaming the prime minister, according to a statement from the legislature.
Gandhi “stands disqualified from membership in Lok Sabha,” the lower house of parliament, the government declared.
Congress members on Friday protested against Gandhi’s conviction and two-year prison sentence in certain regions of the nation.
Officials from the opposition Congress Party have labeled the ruling as political and placed the responsibility on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration as well as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Earlier, a court in western India found opposition leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of defamation for a speech he gave in 2019 in which he said that robbers go by the surname Modi and sentenced him to two years in prison.
Gandhi attended the court hearing in Surat, which is located in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bail was granted, and the punishment was suspended for a month.
Following a speech during the 2019 general election in which he mentioned the surname Modi and questioned how all thieves got the surname, a politician of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) filed a criminal defamation lawsuit against Gandhi.
“The court has found Rahul Gandhi’s comment to be defamatory. The court found him guilty under IPC section 499 read with 500. He has been sentenced to two years in jail,” Ketan Reshamwala, advocate for complainant Purnesh Modi, said.
Gandhi said in court that he had remarked to draw attention to corruption rather than to disparage any particular group of people.
