On April 7, 2023, Union Home Minister Amit Shah slammed the Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi for his ‘democracy in danger’ comments.
He stressed on the fact that it is the Gandhi Family and their dynastic politics that are in danger, not India’s Democracy. He also criticised the opposition parties for interrupting parliamentary operations in response to the Gandhi scion’s disqualification.
While addressing a program at Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh, the Union Home Minister said “Yesterday the session of Parliament ended. It never happened in independent India’s history that the budget session ended without discussion.
But the Opposition leaders did not let the Parliament do work. What was the reason? The reason was that Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as the MP (Member of Parliament). The country will not forgive opposition parties for disrupting the Parliament proceedings over Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification.”’
Amit Shah also criticised the disqualified MP Rahul Gandhi for his contentious comments against Indian Democracy that he made while visiting the United Kingdom. He addressed a crowd with a question- “Should any Indian Political figure defame the country on foreign soil”?
The crowd responded in unison saying “no.”
Amit Shah further said, “They say Democracy is in danger. Democracy is not in danger, your family is in danger. The ‘Idea of India’ is not in danger, but the idea of the dynasty and autocracy by one family is in danger. You had surrounded the country’s democracy with casteism, dynasty politics and appeasement. PM Modi ended all of these, that is why you are scared.”
Shah said that even the congress has lost even the post of Leader of Opposition (in Lok Sabha). This time the Modi Government will continue in power with 300 seats. Even if Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi or any other leader abuse PM Modi, the public has made the lotus grow stronger in the mud of these abuses.”
On March 23, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was convicted by a Surat court in connection with a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his “Modi surname” remarks.
Rahul Gandhi said that everyone with the Modi surname, including Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi, are thieves. Following this, Gujarat BJP leader Purnesh Modi filed a criminal defamation case against the Congress leader, accusing him of defaming the entire Modi community.
However, he was granted bail immediately and suspended the sentence for a month.
The Representations of the People Act 1951 specifies the qualification and disqualification of Members of Parliament and State Legislatures. Section 8 of this Act contains provisions aimed at decriminalizing electoral politics.
According to the Act, any MP or MLA convicted of any offense and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years will be disqualified from date of conviction. In accordance with the law, the Lok Sabha Secretariat disqualified Rahul Gandhi and declared his constituency vacant in response to Surat Court Judgement.
