RSS to demonetisation, Gauri Lankesh to Assam monastery: Remarks over which Rahul Gandhi is facing defamation cases

Remarks on RSS

Addressing an election rally on March 6, 2014, in Maharashtra’s Thane district, Rahul is said to have alleged that the RSS was behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The Congress leader was quoted by PTI as saying: “RSS people killed Gandhiji and today their people (BJP) talk of him…They opposed Sardar Patel and Gandhiji.”

A defamation suit was filed against Rahul by Rajesh Kunte, the secretary of the Bhiwandi unit of the RSS, who accused the Congress leader of tarnishing the reputation of the Sangh.

In June 2018, a court in Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi slapped charges against Rahul for alleged defamatory remarks. The trial in the case is yet to begin.

Remarks on Assam monastery

In December 2015, a criminal defamation case was filed against Rahul in Assam by an RSS volunteer over his allegations that he was not allowed to enter Barpeta Satra, a 16th-century Vaishnavite monastery in Assam, by members of the Sangh. He appeared before the local court that year and was granted bail.

According to Rahul’s lawyer Anshuman Bora, the case is still ongoing in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and is in its final stages.

Remarks on demonetisation

A case was filed against Rahul based on a June 23, 2018, tweet saying: “Congratulations Amit Shah ji, Director of Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank, on your bank winning first prize in the conversion of old notes to new race. Rs 750 crore in five days! Millions of Indians whose lives were destroyed by demonetisation salute your achievement! #ShahZyadaKhaGaya”. The bank and its chairman Ajay Patel filed a criminal defamation suit in an Ahmedabad court, nearly 10 months after Rahul’s tweet.

In July 2019, Rahul was granted bail in the case. Ajit Jadeja, the advocate for the complainants, said plaintiff witnesses are currently being examined in both cases and that the next hearing is on July 1.

Remarks on Rafale

In November 2018, a defamation complaint was filed by Maharashtra BJP leader Mahesh Shrishrimal over Rahul’s “commander-in-thief” remark apparently directed at Narendra Modi during the Rafale controversy. Speaking to The Indian Express at the time, Shrishrimal had said: “Rahul, by calling the PM commander-in-thief during a rally last year, had defamed Modi as well as BJP workers.”

The Bombay High Court granted a stay on the proceedings after Rahul approached the court to try and quash the complaint. The trial in this case too is yet to begin.

Remarks on Gauri Lankesh

In February 2019, a defamation case was filed against Rahul and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury by Maharashtra-based RSS worker and lawyer Dhrutiman Joshi, for allegedly linking the Sangh to the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh. Joshi, in his plea, said that within 24 hours of Lankesh’s death, Rahul told reporters that “anybody who speaks against the ideology of the BJP, against the ideology of the RSS, is pressured, beaten, attacked and even killed”. The complaint further alleged that Yechury too stated that it was the RSS’s ideology and RSS people “who killed Lankesh”, who was known for trenchant criticism of right-wing politics.

In November that year, a court in Mumbai, presided by Metropolitan Magistrate P I Mokashi, rejected applications of both Rahul and Yechury seeking dismissal of the defamation complaint. The trial in the case is yet to begin.

Remark on BJP leader Amit Shah

A BJP municipal councillor from Ahmedabad, Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt, filed a case in May 2019 against Rahul for allegedly referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah as a “murder accused” during a Lok Sabha campaign speech in Jabalpur. He called the Congress leader’s remark “slanderous”, saying Shah had been discharged in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case in 2015. In October 2019, Rahul was granted bail by an Ahmedabad court in the case. A magisterial court is due to hear the suit on July 1.