NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leaders on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict staying the conviction of former party MP Rahul Gandhi in the Modi surname case.
Welcoming the Supreme Court verdict, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said democracy has won. He also attacked the ruling BJP asking it to stop targetting the opposition leaders.
He said, "Truth Alone Triumphs! We welcome the verdict by the Hon’ble Supreme Court giving relief to Shri
@RahulGandhi. Justice has been delivered. Democracy has won. The Constitution has been upheld."
Targetting the BJP, Kharge, who is also the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said, "BJP’s conspiratorial hounding of Shri Gandhi has been thoroughly exposed. Time for them to stop their malicious targeting of Opposition leaders. It is high time they respect the mandate given by the people and start governing the country, on which they have miserably failed in the last 10 years."
In the first reaction to welcome the decision, Congress Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary in-charge of organisation K C Venugopal said on Twitter that justice has prevailed. “We welcome the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s verdict staying Sh @RahulGandhi ji’s conviction. Justice has prevailed. No force can silence the voice of the people.”
Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh attacked the BJP and praised Rahul. “The Supreme Court judgment is a strong vindication of truth and justice. Despite the relentless efforts of the BJPs machinery, @RahulGandhi has refused to bend, break or bow, choosing instead to place his faith in the judicial process.”
Ramesh further said, “Let this be a lesson to the BJP and its acolytes: you can do your absolute worst but we will not back down. We will continue to expose and call out your failures as a Government and as a party. We will continue to uphold our Constitutional ideals and repose faith in our institutions which you so desperately want to destroy. Satyameva Jayate!”
Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor tagged Ramesh’s tweet and said, “The first steps towards justice in an unjust case.”
Rahul sister’s and COngress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi quoted Gautam Buddha to express herself over the Supreme Court’s decision. "Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” ~Gautama Buddha. Thanks to the honourable Supreme Court for delivering a judicious decision. Satyamev Jayate," she tweeted.
Lok Sabha MP from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab Manish Tewari said the apex court's order will pave the way for Rahul to return to Lok Sabha. "The stay on conviction by the Supreme Court & rightly so paves the way back for Sh.
@RahulGandhi to claim his legitimate place back in the House of the People."
Tewari further said, "This matter would also go down in the annals of jurisprudence as a classical case of judicial overreach over the offence of alleged defamation."
A three-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, P S Narasimha and Sanjay Kumar said there is no doubt that the utterances were not in good taste and that a person in public life is expected to exercise caution while making public speeches.
"No reason has been given by the trial judge for imposing maximum sentence, the order of conviction needs to be stayed pending final adjudication," the bench said.
The top court was hearing a plea by Gandhi challenging the Gujarat High Court verdict which dismissed his plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.
Former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi had filed a criminal defamation case in 2019 against Gandhi over his "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" remark made during an election rally in Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.
(With agency inputs)
