India News | CPI Joins Congress Against Gandhi Disqualification; Terms It Attack on Democracy, BJP Revenge Politics

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 24 (PTI) The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala, which has been at loggerheads with the opposition Congress in the state on various issues, on Friday termed the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha an attack on democracy by the Sangh Parivar and an instance of revenge politics by the BJP.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that suppressing dissent by force was a "fascist method" and that was how the prominent leader of the opposition party in the Lok Sabha was being attacked.

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"The hasty disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha is the latest episode in the ongoing assault on our democracy by the Sangh Parivar," Vijayan said in a statement lending support to the Gandhi scion.

If Gandhi was facing such a situation over a political speech by him, how can the common man feel safe to openly express his opinions, the Kerala CM asked.

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Such "fascist methods" were also evident in the arrest of opposition MPs in Delhi who protested against the case lodged against AAP leader Manish Sisodia, apart from Gandhi's disqualification and the political interference in non-BJP states by using central agencies, Vijayan said.

"None of these augur well for a democratic society or fall in line with our constitutional tenets. The growing intolerance towards criticism is endangering our democracy," he said and urged democratic forces in the country to stand together and condemn the action taken against Gandhi.

Vijayan also expressed his sentiments on Twitter by tweeting that Gandhi's disqualification was an "authoritarian rampage" against Indian democracy.

"The hasty decision to disqualify @RahulGandhi as a member of the Lok Sabha is yet another episode in @BJP4India's authoritarian rampage against Indian democracy. This brazen assault is an insult to our democratic values and can't be overlooked. It must be unequivocally denounced." he tweeted.

Veteran Congress leader and former Union Defence Minister A K Antony also spoke along similar lines when he met reporters in the evening.

Antony said that the Central government machinery moved to silence anyone who protests against or criticises it, the Prime Minister or the BJP.

"Therefore, it is not a problem only of the Congress or Rahul Gandhi," he said and urged all opposition parties and democratic forces in the country to set aside their differences and work together to fight the "fascist methods" of the government at the Centre.

"Otherwise Indian democracy would soon turn into a controlled democracy," he warned.

Antony also said that the BJP, the Centre and the Prime Minister were trying to "politically weaken" Gandhi and "would go to any extent for that".

This, he said, was evident from the fact that even though the Surat court stayed its order for 30 days to enable Gandhi to file an appeal, the Lok Sabha Secretariat disregarded that and "hastily" disqualified the Congress leader.

Antony also said that such politically planned moves or attacks against Gandhi have been going on for years, as the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were scared of the Congress leader.

"There is a concerted effort to silence Rahul Gandhi, to weaken Rahul Gandhi. It is a conspiracy. Nobody can silence Rahul Gandhi or Congress. We will continue to fight against the wrong policies of the government more vigorously," Antony added.

Pointing out that the case against Rahul Gandhi was registered in Gujarat for a comment he had made in Karnataka in 2019, Antony said, "No case was taken against Rahul Gandhi in Karnataka. Normally, a case has to be registered in a state, where the course of action takes place. But in Karnataka, there is no case. Instead of that, in Surat in Gujarat, they filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi."

In another similar instance, he pointed out, Delhi police too had gone to the residence of Rahul Gandhi 45 days after he made a comment about some happenings in Kashmir on the concluding day of Bharat Jodo Yatra. "Kashmir police have not registered a case against Rahul Gandhi," he said.

Other senior leaders of the party in Kerala, including Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state assembly and senior Congress leader V D Satheesan and KPCC president and MP K Sudhakaran and former LoP Ramesh Chennithala threw their weight behind Gandhi.

Sudhakaran said defiantly that the party was prepared to face it, if an election was to be held for Wayanad constituency, which was represented by Gandhi.

He said the people can decide who should win and whether justice or injustice should prevail. "We are confident that the people will not let us down," he told reporters.

Satheesan termed Gandhi's disqualification as "hasty" and "politically motivated" and said the party would face it "legally and politically".

"None of this can silence Gandhi and the Congress which will fight against revenge politics," he said.

Chennithala termed Gandhi's disqualification a "murder of democracy".

Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, represented by Gandhi, also saw the Congress party and a section of Left workers sharing similar sentiments that the BJP was engaging in revenge politics against the Gandhi scion.

Congress leaders and workers in Kalpetta area of Wayanad district held a protest march against Gandhi's disqualification and the Youth Congress announced that it would hold a night march to the Kerala Raj Bhavan over the issue.

Meanwhile, BJP state president K Surendran said that Chief Minister Vijayan's statement, along with that of Congress leaders, against Gandhi disqualification was "ridiculous".

"He was disqualified due to his conviction in a criminal case. There is a 2013 Supreme Court verdict which says that any MP or MLA stands disqualified from the time of his conviction if a sentence of two or more years is pronounced. "Many political leaders have been disqualified like this in the past. There is nothing new or special about Gandhi's disqualification. There is no politics in it," Surendran contended.

Yet CPI(M) leaders were arguing for Gandhi with even more energy than the Congress leaders, he claimed. Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail by a Surat court on Wednesday in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.

A day later, the LS Secretariat in a notification said that his disqualification was effective from March 23 -- the day of his conviction.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)