Rahul Gandhi Defiant After Disqualification; Cong Plans ‘Satyagraha’ as BJP Defends ‘Lawful’ Move, Vows Stir for ‘Insulting’ OBCs

Congress stated it’s going to maintain day-long ‘Satyagraha’ in solidarity with occasion chief Rahul Gandhi who held his first press convention on Saturday since his disqualification from Lok Sabha. Gandhi, in a daring assertion, refused to apologise for his remarks made within the UK and stated he would proceed to defend democracy.

The BJP dismissed Gandhi’s declare of Prime Minister Narendra Modi being “scared” of Gandhi’s speech in the Parliament over the Asani issue and stated that the disqualification move was due to his defamatory remarks made in 2019 which “insulted” Modi and the OBC group.

Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after a Gujarat courtroom convicted him in a 2019 defamation case. The disqualification will bar the 52-year-old four-time MP, from contesting polls for eight years except the next courtroom stays his conviction.

Here’re the highest updates on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification

• Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, in a press convention, asserted confidence and said “Disqualify me for life, put me inside jail, I’ll hold going. I cannot cease.”
• He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being “scared” and stated: “I’ve been disqualified as a result of the prime minister is petrified of my subsequent speech. I’ve seen it in his eyes. So he’s afraid of the following speech that’s going to come back and doesn’t need that speech to be in Parliament.”
• “I am here defending the democratic voice of the Indian people, I will continue to do that. I am not scared of these threats, of these disqualifications, allegations, prison sentences. I am not scared of them. These people don’t understand me yet, I am not scared of them,” he stated.
• Refusing calls for made by the BJP, together with Union Ministers within the Parliament, calling him to apologise for his democracy beneath assault feedback in London, UK, Gandhi stated: “My title shouldn’t be Savarkar, my title is Gandhi, Gandhi doesn’t supply an apology to anybody.”
• Gandhi said when he asked the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla to allow him to speak in the parliament, the latter rejected his request and asked him to have a cup of tea with him. “I went to the Speaker sir’s chamber and asked why he was not allowing me to speak. He smiled and said that he can’t allow that. He then asked me to have a cup of tea with him,” he was quoted as saying.
• Rahul Gandhi claimed that he by no means sought overseas intervention in his remarks made within the UK and accused Union ministers of “mendacity” against him in Parliament. He said he wanted to respond to them but was not allowed. “My speech made in Parliament was expunged, and later I wrote a detailed reply to the Lok Sabha Speaker. Some ministers lied about me, that I sought help from foreign powers. But there is no such thing I have done. I will not stop asking questions, I will keep questioning the relationship between PM Modi and Adani,” he stated.
• “They acquired into panic mode that the reality will come out. They have handed over the largest weapon to the Opposition as a result of folks have a query on their thoughts… and query is why is the prime minister saving this corrupt individual,” Gandhi alleged. He alleged that for the BJP-led government, “country is Adani and Adani is country”.

• The Congress chief additionally thanked Opposition events for extending assist to him and asserted that going ahead, all of them will work collectively.
• Asked in regards to the defamation case during which he was convicted, Gandhi stated it’s a authorized matter he is not going to touch upon it.

BJP Hits Back

• BJP chief Ravi Shankar Prasad rubbished the competition that Gandhi’s conviction in a defamation case and his subsequent disqualification have been linked to the latter elevating the Adani Group situation and stated the transfer was because of his conviction for his defamatory remarks made in 2019.
• Prasad alleged that Congress didn’t press its battery of attorneys in service to right away get hold of a keep on Gandhi’s conviction by a Gujarat courtroom with a view to “encashing” the issue in the upcoming assembly polls in Karnataka.
• “We are not here to hold brief for Adani. But Gandhi has sought to mislead the people to link his disqualification with Adani. He has been disqualified because of conviction in a case that relates to defamatory remarks he made in 2019.” he stated.
• The former union minister additionally charged Gandhi with insulting OBCs and stated the BJP will launch a stir in opposition to Gandhi for “insulting” OBC community. “(The issue) will be taken up in all earnestness by the BJP across the country,” he stated.
• Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated Gandhi was not disqualified by the BJP-led authorities on the Centre and the transfer was because of his “unparliamentary, defamatory” words and case against him in the court. “Rahul Gandhi has not been disqualified by the GoI. He has been convicted by the court because in his speech he used unparliamentary, defamatory words against the OBC community. As a consequence of the pronouncement of the Court, he has been disqualified,” he stated.
• Union Minister Anurag Thakur dismissed Congress’s allegations of “political” motives behind Gandhi’s disbarment and said elected representatives automatically stand disqualified the “moment they are convicted by Hon. court to jail for two or more years.”
• Attacking the grand previous occasion for “not checking the principles” before blaming the government, Thakur said the Congress is “brazenly defending their hatred for OBC which caused his conviction thus showing utter disrespect towards judiciary and people,”

• Terming Gandhi as a “case of political immaturity,” he said the leader is “losing whatsoever little trust left, for gimmicks and cheap popularity.”

Savarkar Remarks

• Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, in a debate within the Assembly, claimed Rahul Gandhi has insulted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the OBC group and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar and must be “punished”.
• “Rahul Gandhi has been convicted and stands automatically disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha. But he continues to insult V D Savarkar by saying that he is not Savarkar to apologise. Who does he think he is? He must be punished,” Shinde stated.
• “Savarkar is a patriot. Why insult a patriotic individual? Maharashtra is not going to tolerate the insult of PM Modi and Savarkar. People is not going to let him (Rahul Gandhi) transfer on the streets of Maharashtra,” he said.

Congress Plans ‘Sankalp Satyagraha’

• Congress announced a day-long ‘Sankalp Satyagraha’ on Sunday, which will begin at 10 AM and end at 5 PM, in solidarity with Rahul Gandhi in front of Gandhi statues at all states and district headquarters to protest against his disqualification from the Lok Sabha.
• Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will stage the satyagraha at Raj Ghat in the national capital.
• Party workers in West Bengal held demonstrations for the second day against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification with around 50 Youth Congress members were seen assembling near the Raj Bhavan gate, holding placards in hand. The police detained dozens of supperts briefly and released later in the day, according to reports.

Congress Protests, BJP Hold Counter-stir in Maha

• In Maharashtra’s Thane city, the Congress held demonstrations against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification, near the statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
• The BJP staged a protest at the same venue against Gandhi. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena held separate demonstrations nearby over his remark that allegedly hurt the sentiments of the Other Backward Class (OBC).

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