March & April in Bharath

The petition filed by scholar and social activist Aabha Muralidharan on

Saturday (25/3/23) has urged the apex court to declare “ultra-vires”
Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which provides
for automatic disqualification of a legislator from the parliament or state
assembly upon conviction in a criminal case, according to legal news
portal ‘Bar and Bench’.

The petitioner said that factors such as nature, gravity, role, moral
turpitude and the role of the accused, ought to be examined while
considering disqualification under Chapter III of the 1951 Act.

On Friday, Rahul, MP from southern Kerala state’s Wayanad

constituency, was disqualified from the Lok Sabha after he was found
guilty and sentenced to two years prison by a court in Surat city of the
western state Gujarat in a 2019 defamation case.

***

CBI, ED brought all corrupt people in one party on Wednesday (March 29,
2023):

The raids by CBI and ED have brought all the (corrupt) people in "One
party" and when the BJP's rule ends them, will the country be made
corruption-free?

Will that ‘One Party’ be eliminated for making the nation free from
corruption or when the BJP's rule ends by them the country will become
corruption-free?

Corruption will continue whichever party wins in 2024, as corrupt leaders

happen to exist in every party.

1
"All the thieves, loots and the corrupt are in one party. Once BJP people
are in jail after their government's rule ends, the country will become
corruption free," One-party asserted.

***
Amid an ongoing showdown between the BJP and the Congress over
disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, Germany today
responded to the issue and said, “fundamental democratic principles”
should apply in the case of the Wayanad MP.

“We have taken note of the verdict of first instance against Indian
opposition politician Rahul Gandhi as well as the suspension of his
parliamentary mandate. To our knowledge, Mr Gandhi is in a position to
appeal the verdict,” Germany’s foreign ministry spokesperson said while
addressing a press briefing.

“We expect that the standards of judicial independence and fundamental

democratic principles will equally apply to the proceedings against Rahul
Gandhi,” the spokesperson said in her remarks, which were telecasted on
public broadcaster Deutsche Well or DW.

While speaking in German, the spokesperson also said, “It will then
become clear whether this verdict will stand and whether the suspension
of his mandate has any basis.”

Senior adviser to Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Kanchan Gupta

responded to Germany’s statement and said, “Germany never took note
of 12 previous disqualifications under same law and rule, including when
Congress was in power. Is Rahul Gandhi special?

The remarks came just hours after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar
on Wednesday said no foreign diplomat has raised with him the issue of

2
Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha, which was an
outcome of a law “supported” by the Congress leader in the past.

AMIT SHAH ON RAHUL DISQUALIFICATION

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday tore into Rahul Gandhi
and the Congress over the former’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha,
questioning the ex-party chief’s “arrogance” in not appealing in court
against the judgment.

Reminding the Grand Old Party about Rahul Gandhi’s 2013 act, Shah —
who was speaking at News18’s Rising India Summit — said Gandhi would
have been saved if he had not torn the ordinance on disqualification of
MPs.

“The Congress wanted to save RJD’s Lalu Prasad so it brought in the

ordinance. But Rahul Gandhi called it nonsense and tore it. If the law was
in force today, then Rahul Gandhi would have been saved,” he said.

Slamming his “arrogance”, Shah asked why Rahul Gandhi had not yet
appealed for a stay on his conviction. “Where does this arrogance
generate from? Lalu Prasad, J Jayalalithaa, Rashid Alvi were among 17
people who lost their membership but no one created a ruckus. Why does
the Gandhi family want a separate law for itself? People of India need to
decide if we need a separate law for one family.”

Taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, Shah asked: “Why was democracy not in danger
when other MPs were disqualified? Why is he beating his chest now when he was
the one who tore the ordinance?”

3
 Rahul Gandhi’s image

Something unusual is happening to Rahul Gandhi’s image, and we might

not even have registered it. Till now, the perception of Rahul has been
divided between two extremes. The Bharatiya Janata Party has spent
much time and money portraying him as a ‘Pappu’, an entitled dynast who
has no real understanding of politics, prefers to go on holidays abroad,
and does not have a connect with the people of India.

There is another perception, though it is very much the minority view.

There are hardcore Congress supporters who think that Rahul is
wonderful, and they abuse anyone who thinks otherwise. They praise his
every move and cheer on his every mistake. For them, anyone who
engages in the slightest criticism of Rahul is clearly a Modi-lover or sanghi.

Somewhere between these extremes lies the view of the rest of India.
There are those who do not take Rahul seriously and believe that he is
incapable of ever being able to occupy any political office of consequence.
Many of these people would probably vote for the BJP and Narendra Modi
anyway.

There is an important constituency though — liberal, secular, and not

unsympathetic to the Congress — that Rahul has systematically alienated
over the last several years. These are people who oppose what the BJP
is doing, believe that this government is changing the basic character of
India, and are uncomfortable with the idea of turning a secular country into
a Hindu Rashtra.

Such people are also uncomfortable with the idea of dynasty politics and
took time to accept that Sonia Gandhi could be an effective leader of the
Congress party. And while they were not necessarily hostile to Rahul
during the first half of the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) time in

4
office, they began to have their doubts about him during UPA II. That was
when, in his mother’s absence due to ill health, Rahul failed to achieve
much of consequence, threatened to tear up an ordinance, and made a
fool of himself during his first TV interview.

At first, when Narendra Modi was elected as PM in 2014 (after thrashing

the Congress in a Lok Sabha election where Rahul spearheaded the
campaign), such people believed that the Congress would get its act
together and defeat (or at least, seriously damage) the BJP in the next
general election. When that did not happen, they began to blame Rahul.
Modi succeeds, they said, because nobody takes Rahul seriously.

And as time went on, the image of Rahul as a stubborn but largely
ineffectual leader has come to be accepted by many of those who are
unhappy with this government. Rahul’s curious personnel choices, the
issues he selected to oppose the government on, his inability to strike up
a rapport with other opposition leaders, and the sentiment that he
preferred to go off skiing while India burned have come to dominate the
way in which he is perceived.

Hard as this may be to believe, the people who are most critical of Rahul
Gandhi are not die-hard sanghis. They are liberals who believe that Rahul
has let the side down. He dramatically resigned as Congress president
but continued to run the party as an extra-constitutional dynast. He let no
second line of leadership emerge. And when frustrated Congress
members raised their voices, he saw this as lèse-majesté and made no
attempt to win them over.

A petition challenging Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s conviction and

sentencing by a trial court in Surat in a defamation case is ready and is
likely to be filed very soon, sources said on Wednesday. The party’s top

5
legal advisers are working on the review petition, which will be filed before
the Surat sessions court in a day or two, they added.

***

Adani’s success as a corporate leader will bring Modi’s success as a

political leader_ both will swim or sink together! They have made Rahul
a leader of the opposition. Now, they have revived the Congress party!

A petition challenging Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s conviction and

sentencing by a trial court in Surat in a defamation case is ready and is
likely to be filed very soon, sources said on Wednesday

The party’s top legal advisers are working on the review petition, which
will be filed before the Surat sessions court in a day or two, they added.

6
RAHUL TO APPEAR IN PATNA ON APRIL I2-YET ANOTHER CASE

An MP/MLA court in Patna has asked Rahul Gandhi to appear for a

hearing on April 12 in connection with a petition filed against him over his
‘Modi surname’ remark. This petition was filed against Gandhi in 2019 in
Bihar, regarding an objectionable remark made against the last name
‘Modi.’

Back in 2019, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had filed a
petition before the Special Judge of MP MLA Court, outraged by the
comments made by Rahul Gandhi regarding the ‘Modi’ surname, after
which the Congress leader was granted bail in the matter till July 6, 2019.

Outraged by the remarks made by Rahul Gandhi, Rajya Sabha MP Sushil

Modi had said earlier, “Gandhi with his remarks "abused" the backward
classes, and they will take "revenge" on the Congress for the statement
in the upcoming polls.”

Rahul Gandhi has already been convicted in the Modi surname row by a
court in Surat and has been sentenced to two years in jail. The Congress
leader has been granted bail by the court for 30 days to give him a chance
to appeal against his conviction in a higher court.

After his conviction in the defamation case, Rahul Gandhi was also
disqualified from the Lok Sabha as a Member of Parliament. Despite his
disqualification, Gandhi said that he will not apologize for his remarks
against the ‘Modi’ surname.

During the Lok Sabha election campaigning, Rahul Gandhi delivered a

speech in Kerala where he made certain remarks about the Modi
surname. Gandhi had said, “Why are all those named Modi always
thieves?” hinting at the fugitives Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi.