HP Cong MLAs stage protest against Rahul's conviction, allege conspiracy to defame him

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and all Congress MLAs of the state held a demonstration outside the Assembly on Friday to express solidarity with party leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been convicted in a defamation case.The unprecedented protest by the entire Congress Legislature Party, including all ministers, took place as the House adjourned for lunch break.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and all Congress MLAs of the state held a demonstration outside the Assembly on Friday to express solidarity with party leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been convicted in a defamation case.

The unprecedented protest by the entire Congress Legislature Party, including all ministers, took place as the House adjourned for lunch break. Slogans such as ''Tanashahi Nahi Chalegi, Gundagardi Nahi Chalegi'', ''Rahul Gandhi Sangharsh Karo, Hum Tumhare Saath Hain'' and ''Jo Hitler Ki Chal Chalga, Vo Hitler Ki Maut Marega'' were raised.

The protest took place before the news of Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha came in. The Lok Sabha Secretariat disqualified him as MP from Wayanad in Kerala on Friday, a day after he was convicted by a Surat court in the 2019 criminal defamation case.

Talking to media persons, the chief minister said a conspiracy has been hatched to defame Rahul Gandhi, who has been raising issues of public concern. He undertook a ''foot march'' from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and is the only leader raising the true voice of the people and keeping democracy alive, Sukhu said. ''The entire CLP is solidly behind him.'' Two former prime ministers from his family, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, sacrificed their lives for the country and it is common practice in democracy that allegations are made by leaders against each other but in this particular case, the words spoken by Rahul Gandhi have been made a tool for driving political mileage, Sukhu said.

He added that the opposition is very important for a healthy democracy but the BJP has throttled democracy by not allowing the Congress leaders to speak inside Parliament or outside it. The biggest issue in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against the BJP would be the murder of democracy, Sukhu said.

Leader of Opposition in Punjab Pratap Singh Bajwa, who was in Shimla on Friday, said India is the biggest democracy in the world and the tearing haste in which Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified from Lok Sabha is deplorable and against democratic traditions.

''Not only this, the copy of the disqualification notification has been sent to the estate office for getting his accommodation vacated, which never happened in the past,'' he said.

''It was the BJP's strategy right from the beginning of the Budget session to see that Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to raise the issue of the Hindenburg report on Adani. This action is the death nail for the BJP, which is trying to finish the Congress but the Congress is like a seed which will sprout again and again,'' Bajwa added.

In Hamirpur, Congress members and workers led by their party's district president Kuldip Singh Pathania held a demonstration against the central government. They raised slogans in favour of Rahul Gandhi.