A day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was convicted in a defamation case over his “Modi surname remark”, the Gujarat unit of BJP Friday said that Gandhi had hurt the sentiments of the OBC community. Vice -president of Gujarat BJP Gordhan Zadaphia and state party spokesperson Yamal Vyas addressed a press conference in this regard. Quoting Zadaphia, a party release stated, “A court in Surat has punished Rahul Gandhi and his Lok Sabha membership has been cancelled under the provisions of People's Representative Act. During campaigning for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi had targeted a community by hurting its sentiments. And such statements are coming from Rahul Gandhi not for the first. Several cases have been filed against Rahul Gandhi over his various remarks.” The case against Gandhi was over his remark, “Why do all thieves have the name Modi?”. He made the remark on April 13, 2019 during an election rally in Kolar in Karnataka. “Many leaders of Congress have used indecent language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the latter had gulped the insults. Prime Minister was called ‘of low caste’ and ‘maut ka saudagar’, but he gulped it. But how can an entire community gulp such insults,” Zadaphia added. Zadaphia added that if the Congress party is not happy with the court's verdict, it can go to the higher court. But, he added, by commenting on the verdict, Congress should not undermine the court. “Before Rahul Gandhi, many leaders have been disqualified from the Parliament. Each citizen of the country is bound to respect the constitution. Rahul Gandhi will not be saved by accusing the BJP or the government,” the release quoted Zadaphia as saying.
