Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “We are confident that we will get a stay on his (Rahul’s) conviction, which will, in turn, remove the very basis of this disqualification.”
Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi. (Photo: IANS)
Hitting out at the Centre for the arbitrary disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a Lok Sabha member, the Congress on Friday said the former party president will emerge victorious in a higher court in the defamation case in which he was convicted.
The Congress leader was disqualified as a member of the Lower House earlier on Friday, a day after his conviction by the Surat court in a defamation case for a remark using the ‘Modi surname’ at a rally in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Advertisement
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Congress national spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “We are confident that we will get a stay on his (Rahul Gandhi) conviction, which will, in turn, remove the very basis of this disqualification.”
Advertisement
“We have full faith in the law. We believe we will emerge victorious in the near future,” he said.
“The issue before us is political, more than it is legal. It is a political issue because it signifies the systematic, repetitive emasculation of democratic institutions by the ruling party. It signifies the strangulation of democracy itself,” he said.
“We know that defamation is an exception to free speech, but over the last several years, we have had repeated examples of unthinkable assaults on freedom of speech, more importantly, freedom after speech. We all know that Rahul Gandhi has been speaking fearlessly inside and outside Parliament. He is paying a price for it,” Singhvi said.
Advertisement
