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A lower court in India sentenced opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday to two years in prison on defamation charges for a 2019 speech in which he referred to a thief by the name of Modi.
Gandhi will appeal the order in a higher court, but whether jailed or disqualified from parliament would be a blow to the Congress party ahead of the 2024 general election, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party hopes to win.
The verdict was delivered by a magistrate’s court in the city of Surat, which is in Modi’s home state of Gujarat. The case was brought by a Gujarat MP from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Gandhi, 52 of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, was at the Surat court. The court immediately granted bail and suspended the sentence for one month.
“Accused Rahul Gandhi is convicted … and sentenced to two years in jail,” said Harish Varma, chief justice of the Surat court, in his order.
Ketan Reshamwala, lawyer for complainant Purnesh Modi, said the court found Gandhi’s comments defamatory.
Counsel for the federal government, Kanchan Gupta, said Gandhi could be immediately disqualified from parliament after being charged, in line with a 2013 order from the country’s highest court.
Congress spokesperson and top lawyer Abhishek Singhvi told a press conference that the party feared Gandhi could be disqualified.
“The issue of disqualification depends on the retention,” he said.
“Any reasonable system – a reasonable, fair, non-oppressive, non-biased system – will give people enough time to take some legal steps to remain confident,” he said.
In a speech before the last general election in 2019, Gandhi referred to the prime minister and two fugitive Indian businessmen, all named Modi, when talking about allegations of high-level corruption in the country.
On Thursday, Gandhi, a former Congress president who is now an influential lawmaker, told the court that his comments were not against any community.
Separate political parties expressed their support for Gandhi
Congress members rallied behind Gandhi, with many state units planning protests later in the day and on Friday.
“The Modi government is a victim of political bankruptcy,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Twitter. “We will appeal to a higher court.”
Gandhi also received support from Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and two of its top leaders who were jailed on trumped-up charges.
“We have differences with the Congress, but it is not right to involve Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case like this. It is the duty of the public and the opposition to ask questions. We respect the court but do not agree with the decision,” AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote on Twitter.
The once-dominant Gandhi Congress controls less than 10 percent of the elected seats in the lower house of parliament and has lost heavily to the BJP in the last two general elections.
Modi remains India’s most popular politician by a wide margin and opinion polls suggest he will win a third term in next year’s elections.
Unlike in many countries, where defamation is a civil offence, Indian law also has a provision that classifies it as a criminal offense punishable by up to two years in prison.
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