An Indian court last week convicted India’s opposition leader Raul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case. The court awarded him a two-year jail term over his “why all thieves have Modi surname” comment. Further, Gandhi was disqualified from the parliament, a day after the court verdict. Subsequently, the government asked to vacate the government-allotted residence. Even though the court gave him a 30-day period to appeal against the conviction, Gandhi is yet to appeal against the verdict.
Gandhi made the “Modi” comment in an election rally in Kolar just before the 2019 General Elections. Talking about the corruption and frauds done by some people with the Modi surname, he had said, “one small question, how are the names of all these thieves ‘Modi, Modi, Modi’… Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi, and if you search a little more, aur bahut saare Modi niklenge (many more Modis will emerge).” A BJP leader in the state of Gujarat with a Modi surname had filed a criminal defamation case against Gandhi after he alleged that it hurt the sentiments of lakhs of people with the Modi surname.
After the court verdict came, the Modi-led government reacted quickly by disqualifying Gandhi. The government disqualified Gandhi under the law which states that a Member of Parliament sentenced to not less than two years shall be disqualified from the parliament.
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Gandhi’s Opposition to the Law that Would Have Protected Him
The court gave Rahul Gandhi 30 days to appeal against the conviction. If the court stays the conviction, he will be reinstated as a Member of Parliament (MP). Before July 2013, MPs convicted under this law were able to retain their seat until they had exhausted all the judicial remedies. However, on 10 July 2013, the Supreme Court of India negated this position. Rahul Gandhi’s Congress Party, which was in power in 2013, had initiated an amendment to this law to circumvent the Supreme Court judgement. Rahul Gandhi had opposed the amendment and publicly assailed his party and the prime minister for protecting corrupt political allies. It was his opposition and criticism that led the government to repeal the ordinance.
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Questions over the Timing of the Verdict
The court verdict convicting Rahul Gandhi came at a time when Gandhi had led concerted attacks against the government on the issue of the Adani Group. Gandhi has accused Modi of protecting and shielding the Indian business conglomerate Adani Group. Adani Group was accused of fraud by US short-seller Hindenburg Research which termed it the “largest con in corporate history”. Subsequently, Adani Group’s shares tumbled. Gautam Adani, Adani’s Group’s Chairman lost more than 80 billion USD and fell from the world’s third richest person to the world’s 26th richest person (as of today).
Adani’s rise is closely linked to the rise of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Adani comes from the state of Gujarat where Modi served as a Chief Minister for almost 15 years. Adani Group is involved in infrastructure, airports, ports, coal and cement among many other sectors. India’s opposition party has alleged that the Modi government is tweaking India’s foreign policy to serve Adani’s interests. They substantiate it with the evidence that Adani visited various countries and bagged contracts in those countries just after Modi’s visit to these countries.
Even though the allegations against Adani Group are serious in nature, the government has hardly taken any action to investigate these frauds. Congress has raised many questions on the row and persists with its demand to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the charges against the Adani Group. Rahul Gandhi was leading the opposition criticism of the government. Even after the disqualification, Gandhi said, he will still ask these questions against the government.
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Indian Democracy under Threat
The farcical disqualification of Rahul Gandhi has raised serious questions about the current regime in India. The disqualification has signalled that the Modi-led government will not tolerate any kind of opposition. The aim of the disqualification is to strike fear in the hearts of opposition leaders and other groups that oppose the policies of the Modi government.
It is not just Rahul Gandhi but the Modi government that has targeted activists, students, human rights defenders, civil society, research institutions, universities, businesses, judges and all political leaders that publicly oppose his policies. Most of the politicians belonging to opposition parties today have corruption cases lodged against them. Central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of India that work directly under Modi’s orders are daily summoning opposition politicians these days for questioning in different cases. Interestingly, politicians from opposition parties who had cases registered against them but later defected to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and had their cases withdrawn against them.
These are challenging times for India and India’s democracy. The way the Modi government is acting, it will be safe to say that India today is under a tyrannical government. Since General Elections in India will be held next year, it is possible that the Modi government may not be ready for a peaceful transfer of power. Further, the freedom of opposition parties to contest elections freely is also under threat. Therefore, the next elections will determine what way India goes.
