Shillong, March 29: Opposition Indian National Congress on Wednesday launched a protest campaign called “Jai Bharat Satyagraha” to demonstrate against the recent conviction and disqualification of its leader, Rahul Gandhi, as a Member of Parliament. The campaign is set to last till April 8 and will involve a series of street corner meetings across the country.
According to AICC media coordinator and Assam PCC senior spokesperson, Bobbeeta Sharma, the Congress party will do everything in its power to save democracy. Sharma alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is willing to destroy democracy in order to protect his friend and business associate, Adani.
She alleged that Rahul Gandhi has been targeted because he asked PM Modi about Adani. On February 7, Rahul Gandhi had raised questions about the Adani Group’s alleged involvement in a major financial scandal, which he called the “Adani Mega Scam,” during a speech in Parliament.
However, just nine days after Gandhi’s speech, the defamation case against him was revived, whereas specific references to the Adani scandal were expunged from Parliament’s records. The Congress party claims that this is evidence of a concerted effort by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to protect Adani and suppress any criticism of the government’s relationship with the business group.
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Sharma also accused the BJP of using diversionary tactics to avoid addressing the Adani scandal and protect the Prime Minister’s image. She cited two specific examples of what she called “ridiculous allegations” made by the BJP: that Rahul Gandhi asked “foreign forces” to help India in London, that he targeted the OBC (Other Backward Classes) community.
Sharma dismissed these allegations as false and baseless and accused the BJP of trying to distract the public from the real issues affecting the country, such as rising prices, unemployment, and social inequality.
She also pointed out that the maximum sentence for criminal defamation in India is two years, and that it is extremely rare for an elected representative to receive such a sentence. She contrasted this with the case of BJP MP from Banda, Uttar Pradesh, RK Singh Patel, who was convicted in November for halting a train, blocking public roads, and pelting stones at police personnel but only received a one-year sentence.
Despite the conviction and disqualification of Rahul Gandhi, Sharma reminded that the British used to punish Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad either with sedition or jail sentences and said, “The Congress eventually won against the British. Now, the Modi government is targeting Rahul Gandhi for exposing thieves and scamsters. The Congress will win again.”
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