Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi returns to India’s parliament as MP
Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was restored to parliament on Monday after the Supreme Court suspended his defamation conviction last week.
Rahul Gandhi lost his lawmaker status in March due to his political remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Congress party and its leaders celebrated his return by distributing sweets and shouting outside parliament.
The 53-year-old leader of the Congress party received a two-year prison term in March in a case that detractors criticised as an attempt to quell political opposition in the greatest democracy in the world.
Gandhi asked why “all thieves have Modi as (their) common surname” during the 2019 election campaign, which led to the conviction.
His remarks were interpreted as a slur directed at the Indian prime minister and all those who share the same surname, which is connected to lower castes in India.
Shashi Tharoor, a fellow Congressman from the Congress party, expressed “immense relief” at hearing of Gandhi’s readmission.
“He can now resume his duties in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) to serve the people of India and his constituents … A victory of justice and for our democracy,” he said.
The Gujarat High Court denied Mr Gandhi’s appeal in July after the court granted him bail to appeal his conviction.
However, the Supreme Court overturned his conviction on Friday, declaring that the trial court judge’s justifications for imposing the maximum sentence of two years on Mr Gandhi were “without sufficient reasons and grounds.”
Gandhi, portrayed as a princeling out of touch with the concerns of many Indians, lost two elections to Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party despite Congress being once the dominating force in Indian politics.
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