Shashi Tharoor Disappointed With Gujarat HC Ruling On Rahul Gandhi ; Says Not Good For Our Democracy To Sideline Opponents Using Legal Means

Picture : Twitter/ ANI

Senior Congress Leader Shashi Tharoor has expressed deep disappointment following the Gujarat High Court’s decision not to stay the conviction of Rahul Gandhi in the ‘Modi surname’ defamation case.

“Since 1947, no one in our country has been convicted for a criminal defamation case with the 2-year sentence and 2 years is also the minimum sentence required to earn disqualification from the Parliament, therefore this raises some legitimate questions on the eyes of the public and we hope that the Gujarat High Court would see the problem of this particular sentence and the punishment and will find a way of moderating it.” Tharoor emphasized that such actions are detrimental to democracy, as electoral battles should be fought on the basis of principles and policies rather than using legal means to sideline opponents.

“It is important for us to understand that it is not good for our democracy. In a democracy people should fight fair and square on their differences of ideology, principles, and policy but not win elections by putting one of your principles opponents in jail and disqualifying them from representative office, that is simply not healthy for our democracy,” Tharoor said.

“I certainly told the Congress party will go to the Supreme Court and will I appeal this that honest truth is that this matter can not be allowed to rest until every possible legal option has been exhausted,” Tharoor added.