Nalgonda MP and former TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy spoke at the day-long Satyagraha organized by the Congress party at Gandhi Bhavan on Sunday. The event was part of a nationwide protest against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a member of Lok Sabha following his conviction in a defamation case by a Surat court. Reddy accused the Modi government of protecting Adani and claimed that Rahul Gandhi was just a target. He alleged that the BJP government orchestrated a drama to defend PM Modi from the simple question of whose Rs. 20,000 crores went to Adani’s shell companies.
Reddy gave a timeline of the entire case, which indicates a link between Rahul Gandhi’s accusations and the controversial verdict of the Surat court. He alleged that some forces were working behind to silence the Congress MP. Reddy claimed that the maximum two-year sentence for criminal defamation is unheard of, and cases against BJP leaders were dealt with exceeding leniency. Further, he said that the criminal defamation complaints should be filed by the person against whom the remarks were made, who should also prove how they were injured personally. In this case, the persons who were named did not file the case, and the person who filed the case was not named.
Reddy slammed the BJP for deliberately disrupting the Parliament to avoid further discussion on Adani or the demand for a JPC. He accused the BJP of protecting fraudsters and targeting anyone who questions them, including opposition leaders, activists, and journalists, using ED, CBI, false UAPA cases, and cases filed in faraway places. He said that Rahul Gandhi and Congress were not scared and would continue to raise public issues.
The Congress MP reiterated that Rahul Gandhi has been fighting for the rights of farmers and other marginalized communities. He pointed out that Rahul Gandhi had helped bring the 2013 Land Acquisition Law to protect farmers and had stood up for their rights against the BJP’s attempts to amend the same law. He compared the Modi Government’s actions to the British colonial regime’s punishment of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, and Maulana Azad, and said that the Congress would win again. He reminded that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December 1978 and the party which mistreated her lost its existence. BJP will meet the same fate for disqualifying Rahul Gandhi, he said.
