Following the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after his conviction in a defamation case, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that the Congress leader must move a higher court instead of blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding that there was no question of “vendetta politics” in his disqualification.
“He has not appealed to take stay on his conviction. What kind of arrogance is this? You want a favour. You want to continue to be MP and will also not go before the Court,” Shah said, at an event by News 18.
The home minister added that 17 prominent leaders, including former Chief Ministers Lalu Prasad, J Jayalalitha, had lost their membership because of a 2013 Supreme Court order during the UPA government, which said an elected representative would lose his seat immediately after conviction. However, no one had protested wearing “black clothes” as this was the law of the land”.
“Listen to the full speech of Rahul Gandhi, he has not only spoken abusive words for Modi ji. He has spoken abusive words for the entire Modi community and OBC society,” he said.
‘No question of vendetta politics’: Amit Shah
“The law of the land is clear. There is no question of vendetta politics. It is the judgment of the Supreme Court of India, which had come during their government,” Shah said.
On the notice to Gandhi to vacate his government bungalow, Shah questioned why should there be any “special favour” for an individual.
“It was a deliberate statement by Rahul Gandhi. If Rahul Gandhi did not want to apologise, then he should not have applied for bail. Let him not apologise,” Shah said.
“This gentleman is not the first one. Politicians who held much bigger positions and with much more experience have lost their membership because of this provision,” he added.
Shah also said that all speeches of Rahul Gandhi would have to be erased from records from the day of his conviction and that the Lok Sabha speaker has no role in his disqualification.
“It is the law of the country that all his speeches in Parliament would have to be erased from the records from the moment of his conviction. Even if his disqualification notice were served a few days later, it would have no purpose,” he said.
Speaking of the episode when Rahul Gandhi had tore an Ordinance brought by the then UPA government calling it “nonsense”, Shah said, “Once he tore it apart, who in his government would have dared to turn it into law? It was vetoed. Had that ordinance become a law, he could have been saved.”
When Rahul Gandhi tore an Ordinance in 2013
In a major embarrassment to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his cabinet colleagues of the UPA government, Rahul Gandhi, who was the then vice-president of the Congress
It had also struck down Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, which allowed elected representatives three months to appeal their conviction, as “unconstitutional”.
Speaking at a press conference, Gandhi had then said, “My opinion on the ordinance is that it is complete nonsense. I think it should be torn up and thrown out. That is my opinion. My personal opinion on the ordinance. I will repeat it for you. My opinion on the ordinance is that it should be torn up and thrown away.”