Lucknow court summons to Rahul Gandhi just BJP’s ‘dirty trick’: Congress

Following a court summons issued to Rahul Gandhi over alleged defamatory remarks against the Indian Army, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari on Wednesday, 12 February, accused the BJP of orchestrating the move as part of a campaign of "dirty tricks" targeting the Leader of the Opposition (LoP).

Tiwari, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, claimed that the BJP has been unnerved by the growing popularity of Rahul Gandhi since the Bharat Jodo Yatra. According to him, the summons was yet another attempt by the ruling party to entangle Gandhi in legal battles and distract him from his political agenda.

"This is BJP’s dirty trick to target our top leadership, whom they fear the most. They struggled in the last elections because of him. They want to keep Rahul Gandhi entangled in legal battles in some way or another. But we stand by justice and firmly uphold what has been said.

"We are confident that the court will deliver justice, and the allegations against him will be proven false," said Tiwari.

The case against Gandhi stems from a statement Rahul Gandhi made in December 2022 during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, when he said, "Chinese soldiers are beating up Indian Army personnel in Arunachal Pradesh."

The remark, intended to critique the Modi government’s handling of border tensions with China, drew sharp criticism from the BJP and its affiliates, who accused Gandhi of being 'anti-national'.

Uday Shankar Srivastava, a former director of the Border Roads Organization (BRO), filed a complaint against Gandhi, asserting that the statement was defamatory and deeply hurt the sentiments of armed forces personnel.

Acting on the complaint, the court registered a defamation case and subsequently issued a summons to the Congress leader.

The summons comes at a politically charged moment, with the BJP and Congress locked in a fierce battle. Political observers view the legal action as part of a broader pattern wherein opposition leaders are subjected to legal scrutiny in a political vendetta to hamstring their political efforts and dent their credibility. (But that is surely not 'defamation' even when unproven.)