Right or wrong?

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as an MP by the Lok Sabha Secretariat is a result of a court order and not a political call, BJP leaders said stating that everyone is equal before the law. Union Minister of State for Law and Justice S P S Baghel termed the disqualification “lawful” and asserted that everyone is equal before the law. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the decision was a legal one and alleged the Congress was questioning the judiciary.Rahul Gandhi was suspended from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in a criminal defamation case. The Lok Sabha Secretariat also declared his constituency in Kerala’s Wayanad as vacant According to the Representation of the People Act, a lawmaker sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more shall be disqualified “from the date of such conviction” and remain disqualified for another six years after serving prison time. A a court in Surat found Rahul Gandhi guilty and sentenced him to two years in prison in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname. The Congress leader, however, was granted bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days to allow him to appeal the Surat court verdict.Many leaders sharply reacted to the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, terming it a dangerous trend in the country. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP made all efforts to get him disqualified as he was speaking the truth. “He has been removed from the House for speaking the truth, fighting for the Constitution and for people’s rights,” Kharge alleged. “This was not a question of backward class, Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi are not of backward class. They are trying to build a perception that Rahul Gandhi spoke against backward class. Gandhi was putting forward the truth before the country so they were not liking it,” he said in an apparent reference to BJP chief J P Nadda’s remarks that Gandhi had compared OBC communities to thieves.