On Rahul Gandhi’s Jail Term, Most Opposition Parties In Silent Mode

The two-year jail term for Congress’s Rahul Gandhi has generated a deafening silence from most opposition parties.

The only ones to condemn it so far has been Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party and Congress allies Rashtriya Janata Dal and Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK.The other allies of Congress — Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party and Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena faction, are yet to comment.

Mr Gandhi was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison today in a four-year-old criminal defamation case over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname. He was granted bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days to allow time for an appeal.

Mr Gandhi had apparently said, “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?” after which the case was filed by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi in Gujarat.

Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party — not known to share a cosy relationship with the Congress — was the first to come out in support of Mr Gandhi.

“A conspiracy is being hatched to eliminate non-BJP leaders and parties by prosecuting them. We have differences with the Congress, but it is not right to implicate Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case like this… It is the job of the public and the opposition to ask questions. We respect the court but disagree with the decision,” Mr Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

Towards evening, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav tweeted, “Get the opposition leaders raided by ED, IT, CBI, even if things don’t work, get baseless cases done in different cities under a heinous conspiracy so that no core stone is left unturned in headline management. This is a matter of grave concern for the Constitution, democracy, politics and the country”.

DMK’s TR Balu said the verdict makes it clear that “freedom of expression is under threat”. Mr Gandhi is an ally and he has not attacked any particular community, the party said.