congress: Congress to hold ‘Maun Satyagraha’ on July 12 in support of Rahul Gandhi

KC Venugopal has written to all PCC presidents after the Gujarat High Court on Friday upheld the Sessions Court’s order denying a stay on Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the ‘Modi surname’ sentence defamation case.

“In the present circumstances, it is time for us to stand together and reiterate that Rahul Gandhi is not alone and millions of Congressmen and crores of people irrespective of their political affiliations are with him in the fight for truth and justice,” the letter read. .

“Under the leadership of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, in solidarity with our leader and in support of his fearless and uncompromising fight, all PCCs are requested to organize a massive one-day Maun Satyagraha (Silent Protest) in front of Gandhi statues, in all State Headquarters from 10 AM to 5 PM, on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, with maximum possible mobilization and participation of all senior leaders, MPs, MLAs/MLCs and other elected representatives,” it added.

The Congress on Friday said the order of a single judge of the Gujarat High Court, dismissing Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction was “disappointing” but not an “unexpected judgment”.

The party said it would approach the Supreme Court on the matter. “We will fight both the political battle and the legal battle,” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said in light of the high court’s decision. The Gujarat High Court in May reserved its order on Rahul’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction in the ‘Modi surname’ defamation case in 2019. The court refused to grant any interim relief to the Congress leader.

Rahul moved the Gujarat High Court on April 25 challenging the order of the Surat sessions court, which refused to stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case.

The Surat court had, on April 20, rejected Rahul’s plea seeking a stay on his lower court conviction in the case.

In his judgement, Additional sessions judge Robin P Mogera cited Gandhi’s status as an MP and former leader of the country’s second largest political party, saying he should have been more cautious.

A lower court convicted and sentenced the Congress leader to two years in jail on March 23 under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in connection with a defamation case filed by Purnesh Modi.

At a rally in Karnataka’s Kolar in April 2019, Rahul said, in a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “How come all thieves have Modi as a common surname?”.