Congress considers Gandhi family above Constitution: BJP

The Congress party considers the Gandhi family above India’s judicial process, Constitution and democratic system, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Monday as the Grand Old Party staged a protest at Parliament complex against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as MP last week.

Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in a 2019 defamation case by a Surat court last week. The case pertains to a remark – “why all thieves have Modi in their names” – he made in the run up to the Karnataka elections in 2019.

Talking to reporters outside Parliament on Monday, Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said Gandhi, who represented Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala, was given several opportunities, including a chance to apologise for his remarks against the Modi surname, but he opted not to apologise. “...Thinking that the judiciary will not dare to deliver a verdict against him,” he said.

As Congress leaders, wearing black attire, staged a protest against Gandhi’s disqualification outside Parliament, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “Our message is, save democracy and Constitution. If you take law into your hands, democracy will be ruined and nobody would have freedom of speech.”

Shekhawat lashed out at the Congress over the protest and said the Gandhi family considers itself “class apart, elite and above the Constitution”. He also said both the BJP and the government have nothing to do with Gandhi’s disqualification.

“The way Congress leaders are making a hue and cry over a judicial and lawful exercise itself shows that they consider the Gandhi family above India’s judicial process, Constitution and democratic system,” he said.

People who claim that democracy is under threat, are insulting the democratic system with their street protests against a judicial verdict and lawful action, he added.

In a pointed reference to Gandhi, Shekhawat said: “People like him are a threat to democracy as they consider themselves above it.”

He also accused Gandhi of insulting VD Savarkar. “Rahul Gandhi very rightly said that he wasn’t Savarkar. If Rahul actually wishes to know Savarkar, then he must go to the Andaman Jail and spend time there to realise who Savarkar actually was and the kind of sacrifices he made,” Shekhawat said.

On Saturday, when Gandhi was asked if he would apologise for his “Modi surname” remark, he said: “My name is not Savarkar, it is Gandhi and Gandhi never offers apology”.

Union minister for information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur also slammed the Congress’s “drama” over Gandhi’s disqualification and questioned whether leaders of the Opposition party will “continue to wearing black clothes after their black deeds”.

“Rahul Gandhi and Congress have been insulting the OBC community. Has the Congress party stopped believing in the courts? Rahul Gandhi’s arrogance is such that he did not apologise to the OBC community, or in the court. He is not ready to accept the court’s judgment. The order was from the court. His membership ended soon after the court delivered its verdict. Why are they creating this drama now?” he said.

Later in the day, Union minister Piyush Goyal hit out at the Congress for allegedly disrupting Parliament and being disrespectful towards the Chair. “Today, papers were torn in the Lok Sabha… the Speaker kept saying that he wants to run the House and everyone would get a chance to speak, but they (Congress) did not want to let the House run,” he said.

On Congress’s protest march, he said the party is “demoralised as all their options have failed”. “They only have black magic in a situation like this,” he said.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri also hit out at the Congress, asking it to “do serious introspection” and ponder over what is acceptable in a political and legal system.