Rahul Gandhi disqualified only to suppress his voice: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge

NEW DELHI: Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party-led centre over the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a Lok Sabah MP, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said that the former MP was "sued for defamation only to suppress his voice."

Kharge said, "The whole Congress party is standing with Rahul Gandhi. Congress' Satyagraha is under Sankalp Yatra, and if needed, we will also do the Jail Bharo programme." "BJP and Modi government is not allowing Rahul Gandhi to speak. Whatever we say in the Parliament, even that is expunged from the records in Parliament," he added.

He further said that the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi only means that the government does not want to let Rahul Gandhi speak.

"The government wants to hide its scams, wants to suppress the fact that it is selling government properties. Rahul Gandhi was sued for defamation only to suppress his voice. His statement was not about any person, society or any party, it was an election speech, and there is no question of hurting anyone," Kharge further said.

The Congress president said that Rahul Gandhi's speech back in 2019, was just his freedom of expression. "BJP leaders have given such statements that if a dog dies in an accident then there is no need to worry about it. A party whose leader talks like this can never give respect to the Constitution. Today, there is a conspiracy to not let the Opposition speak. Rahul Gandhi is fighting against this conspiracy," he said.

Rahul Gandhi, on Friday, was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha, a day after a Surat court sentenced him to two years imprisonment in a defamation case filed against him over his "Modi" surname remark.

In April 2019, he had said "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname" at a Lok Sabha election rally at Kolar in Karnataka. The court approved Gandhi's bail on a surety and stayed the sentence for 30 days to allow him to approach the higher courts. The Congress party on Sunday started protesting against Rahul's disqualification through its 'Sankalp Satyagraha' in Raj Ghat. Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, leaders Priyanka Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and several other party leaders have joined the protest. (ANI)