India’s main opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, was reinstated in parliament on Monday (August 7th), Utpal Kumar Singh, secretary general of the lower house of parliament, said in a statement. Last week, the country’s Supreme Court suspended his two-year prison sentence for defamation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The sentence was handed down on March 23 after the 53-year-old Congress Party leader said during an election campaign in 2019 that “all thieves have Modi as their surname”.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge called the decision to reinstate Mr. Gandhi in parliament a “welcome step” and called on the government to focus on “governance rather than bashing democracy by attacking the leaders of opposition”.
Descendant of a political dynasty
The conviction rendered him ineligible, disqualifying him from sitting in parliament and contesting the 2024 general election, in which Mr Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is given the clear winner.
Congress party MP Shashi Tharoor welcomed the announcement of Rahul Gandhi’s reinstatement “with enormous relief”. “He can now resume his duties in the Lok Sabha [the lower house of Parliament] to serve the people of India and their constituents (…). This is a victory for justice and for our democracy,” he said.
In suspending Mr. Gandhi’s sentence on Friday, India’s top court said the original trial did not justify imposing the maximum sentence for the comments he made. “The sentencing order should be stayed pending a final decision,” Judge B.R. Gavai said in his ruling.
A figurehead of the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi is a descendant of India’s first political dynasty. He is the son of Rajiv Gandhi, grandson of Indira Gandhi and great-grandson of independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, all former prime ministers. He is not related to Mahatma Gandhi.