Cong stages protest in Himachal against Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha

Protesting against the disqualification of former party chief Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, Congress leaders, led by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, sat on a Sankalp Satyagraha at the Ridge here on Sunday.Gandhi 52 was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after he was convicted by a court in Gujarats Surat in a 2019 defamation case.

Protesting against the disqualification of former party chief Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, Congress leaders, led by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, sat on a ''Sankalp Satyagraha'' at the Ridge here on Sunday.

Gandhi (52) was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, a day after he was convicted by a court in Gujarat's Surat in a 2019 defamation case. The disqualification will bar Gandhi, a four-time MP, from contesting elections for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction.

Sukhu, along with several ministers, MLAs, leaders and party workers, also took part in a candlelight march from the Ridge to Scandal Point. The protesters carried banners that described Gandhi's disqualification as a member of Parliament as the ''murder of democracy''.

Demonstrations were held at the headquarters of all the 12 districts in the hill state.

Sukhu said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre was unnerved with the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Gandhi and this was the reason that he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha.

''Rahul Gandhi has emerged as the voice of the people throughout the country. He was raising burning issues and his disqualification was an abortive attempt to silence him,'' the chief minister said, adding that the Congress stands solidly behind the former party chief and it would expose the conspiracies of the BJP-led Centre.

The Congress leaders alleged that there was a well-planned strategy behind Gandhi's disqualification from Parliament.

Talking to PTI, Congress spokesperson and Theog MLA Kuldeep Singh Rathore said the party will fight against the designs of the BJP legally and politically.

Meanwhile, the state BJP accused Gandhi of giving false statements to mislead people and claimed that the Congress leader considers himself above the country, judiciary and Parliament.

Gandhi has maintained that whatever he says is well thought of and it implies that his 2019 remarks -- ''why the name of all the thieves is Modi'' -- made in Karnataka were also well considered, state BJP chief Suresh Kashyap and the in-charge and co-incharge of the state BJP, Avinash Rai Khanna and Sanjay Tandon, said in a joint statement issued here.

This was a casteist remark against the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), they said and wondered why Gandhi should not face action for insulting the community.

Taking a jibe at the Congress, senior BJP leader and former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said those who throttled democracy in 1975 and put lakhs of innocent people in jail for 18 months are now talking about democratic rights and ''Satyagraha''.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)