Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Gujarat, Purnesh Modi, has responded to Rahul Gandhi's plea in the Supreme Court. The plea challenges a high court verdict that refused to stay Gandhi's conviction in a defamation case filed by him against Modi. Notably, the defamation case resulted in Gandhi's disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP.
'Rahul Gandhi displayed arrogance'
Purnesh Modi, in his reply to Gandhi's plea, accused the Congress leader of showing arrogance during his sentencing.
At the time of sentencing before the trial court, the petitioner, far from being repentant or contrite, displayed arrogance...He said he did not seek any mercy from the court and would not apologize for any harm to the reputation of the persons he had defamed," Purnesh Modi said.
Additionally, Purnesh Modi informed the court about a press conference held by Rahul Gandhi a day after his conviction. During the press conference, Gandhi asserted that he wouldn't offer any apologies, stating that he is a "Gandhi, not Savarkar."
Rahul's statement made out of personal hatred
Pointing to Gandhi's 2019 remark, which led to the filing of the defamation case, Purnesh Modi asserted ,"The statement was made out of personal hatred towards an elected prime minister of the country, and the extent of hatred was so great that the petitioner was impelled to cast grossly defamatory aspersions on persons who incidentally bore the same surname as the prime minister."
During a pre-2019 Lok Sabha election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi made the following statement, "I have a question. Why is it that all thieves have Modi in their names, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, or Narendra Modi? We don’t know how many more such Modis will emerge."
Purnesh Modi, in his reply, said there was "no reason to brand an entire class of people as thieves just because they bear the same surname as the prime minister".
According to Purnesh Modi, Rahul Gandhi's conduct was not "correct" given his position as the Congress president at the time. As a leader of a national-level political party, Gandhi was expected to uphold elevated standards of political discourse in the country, as stated by the BJP MLA from Gujarat.
