Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Wednesday alleged that the Union Home Ministry has a system in place to monitor cases filed against leaders of opposition parties. Gehlot was addressing mediapersons at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan in Ahmedabad after Congress leader Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha member last week following Surat court's conviction in a criminal defamation case and sentencing him to two years jail term. The senior Congress leader also announced that the party has launched a month-long “Jai Bharat Satyagrah” against Gandhi’s disqualification and to press the demand for a probe into allegations against Adani Group. Referring to the chronology of events that led to Rahul’s conviction, Gehlot said, “The Surat issue started four years back in Karnataka but the case was filed here. The petitioner himself got it stayed in the High Court and when Rahul spoke about Adani and Modi's relationship in the Parliament, then he gets the stay removed.” “The home ministry is monitoring cases going on against the opposition parties across the country. There are not only orders to register cases, but they are also being monitored. There is a monitoring system in place. And when it is monitored, whether it is the police commissioner, DGP (Director General of Police), collector, whoever, they have to proceed (to take action)," he said. On BJP's accusations that Gandhi insulted the nation in his speeches in London, Gehlot said that the former Congress president only said what he has been raising in the country and nothing new. “During the Bharat Jodo yatra too he has raised these issues. There is not a thing he spoke in London that was against the country. It is only to misdirect the citizens. Sometimes they bring the OBC issue, then says he has disrespected the country. He was not allowed to speak in the House against allegations levelled on him despite meeting and requesting the Speaker under Parliament rules. He was muted once and expunged too,” Gehlot added. Gehlot asked why is Rahul Gandhi being asked to applogise when he is not allowed to speak in the first place. “First let him speak, you are not allowing him to speak and asking for an apology,” he added. Accusing the BJP of playing the Other Backward Classes (OBC) card over Gandhi's “Modi surname" remark, Ghelot said, “I have been made CM for the third time by Sonia ji, Rahul ji. I am from OBC community. There is only one MLA from my community and that is me,” he said. The Rajasthan CM further said that the “democracy is in danger” in the country and it should be a matter of concern for all citizens “as criticism is termed as anti-national”. Gehlot also raised questions on why the Joint Parliamentary Committee is not being formed over the allegations Adani. With PTI inputs
