Rahul Gandhi’s Disqualification in Assam protested by Congress MLAs

Guwahati: Congress members arrived in the Assam Assembly on Wednesday dressed in black to protest Rahul Gandhi’s removal as an MP.

The party’s MLAs in Assam marched to the legislature today to protest Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification following his conviction by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case.

Congress leader and an MP from Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi was found guilty for his remark against ‘Modi surname’. In the build-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha general elections, the Congress leader had allegedly remarked, “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” during a public rally at Kolar in Karnataka.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi had filed a complaint against the Congressman as a result of it. A Surat court gave him a two-year prison term on March 23. But, after the court issued the judgement and Rahul Gandhi paid a Rs 10,000 bail fee, he was also granted bail.

Rahul Gandhi lost his status as a Lok Sabha member the next day.

The Lok Sabha secretariat in a notification issued to the Congress leader said, “Shri Rahul Gandhi, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. 23 March, 2023 in terms of the provisions of Article 102(1) (e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.”

As Rahul Gandhi was stripped of his right to serve as a Lok Sabha MP on March 25, party members of the Congress party organised large-scale rallies around the nation.

At Wayanad, leaders of the Congress party took to the streets, and several protesters even set fire to an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Workers for the Young Congress in Bengaluru made the decision to march to the PM Modi-to-be-opened metro station. On marching to the Visvesvaraya metro station near Bengaluru’s City Civil Court, the protesting Congress workers were halted.

The New Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi train was halted in Punjab by the Chandigarh Young Congress at the Chandigarh railway station. MVA MLAs in Maharashtra held a silent protest outside the State Legislature.

Several political parties sided with Rahul Gandhi and the Congress despite widespread criticism of the action from national leaders.