Rahul Gandhi is finding himself in the eye of the news cycle storm after a Gujarat court convicted him of defamation for his 2019 remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul Gandhi faces up to 2 years in jail for taking the Prime Minister’s name along with IPL founder Lalit Modi and fugitive businessman Nirav Modi and wondering if all Modis are thieves. The complaint against Gandhi was filed by BJP leader Purnesh Ishvarbhai Modi at Adajan police station in Surat district.

While convicting Gandhi, Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma granted him bail for 30 days for him to file his appeal, which would be in a higher court.

It is a coincidence that if Rahul Gandhi had not ripped up a Manmohan Singh government ordinance to protect legislators (MPs/MLAs/MLCs) convicted of criminal offences from disqualification, he could have escaped this Surat court judgment unscathed. But since the ordinance was withdrawn by the Manmohan Singh government, a legal protection that could have saved him and others can be looked upon wistfully.

The United Progressive Alliance-II regime had been at the receiving end of Opposition assaults over perceived corruption scams including 2G, coalgate and the railway cases, implicating ministers of allies Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Rashtriya Janata Dal among others.

The general perception of those years was that the allies were responsible for the falling goodwill of the Congress minority government. Though multiple parties including the Aam Aadmi Party went on the offensive, the biggest gainer from the hit on the Congress was the BJP.

Possibly, the UPA bigwigs could read among the tea leaves what lay ahead of them. Rahul Gandhi’s trashing other ordinance happened in the first few weeks of September 2013 when then PM Singh was away in the United States. The highlight of the next week was Narendra Modi being chosen as the BJP’s PM candidate above veteran leader LK Advani. What happened hence is well-known.

The Rahul Gandhi-led march, the Bharat Jodo Yatra, had won some eyeballs at the man’s ability to pull off the march with relative elan. Following the Hindenburg Research report on Adani, the Congress had shown some verve and fight in a marked departure from the grand old party dismissal.

A remark from spokesperson Pawan Khera on Modi saw Delhi Police armed police haul him off a flight at Delhi airport in connection with three FIRs against Khera, one in Assam and two in Uttar Pradesh.

Observers had been upbeat on the Congress’s chances despite the “Aayega Modi hi” slogan and potential allies talking of a non-Congress, non-BJP alliance. The Surat court decision could spark greater opposition coherence since Arvind Kejriwal himself came out in support of Gandhi.

Day after Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal slammed the AAP government over the law and order situation by dubbed the hunt of pro-Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh and his aids as a conspiracy to defame the Sikh community for communal polarisation and electoral benefits. Akali Dal on Wednesday swung in to offer legal assistance to those arrested during the clampdown.

As per the reports, Sukhbir Singh Badal took to Twitter for the second consecutive day to talk about the Amritpal Singh crackdown and wrote that his party has agreed to offer complete legal assistance to all Sikh youth arrested in the ongoing extra-constitutional crackdown in Punjab.

The tweet by Badal also read that they are offering legal aid in order to safeguard the rights of the youth from being violated by the AAP Government in Punjab. The tweet also put out the contacts of the legal aid that the families of the arrested can approach to access.

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Recently the Akali Dal Chief also put out a series of tweets that stressed on the unity and integrity of India and further condemned the divisive outfits for polarising the communal harmony in Punjab. The tweet also read that the Sikh community has always been at the forefront of making sacrifices for the nation.

In another tweet, Badal wrote and claimed that attempts are being made to malign the Sikh community for electoral benefits. He further wrote and affirmed to the Punjabi community that Akali Dal will fight for every community including all minorities. Another tweet also slammed the arrest of the innocent youth and dubbed it to be a bid done under the garb of the crackdown of Amritpal Singh.

He further urged the authorities to stop the arrest to clear the Punjabis from feeling insecure in the state. As per the reports, so far the Punjab Police have arrested more that 100 associates of Amritpal Singh and held them for questioning. The prime accused Amritpal Singh, who spoke in favour of Khalitan, continues to be at large as the man hunt continues.

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The Delhi Police has taken cognizance of the cases of the posters that slammed Prime Minister Modi and in a bid to curtail such incidents, the police have rained down on the several accused. So far, the Delhi Police has registered 44 FIRs in the matter and arrested 4 people including two owners of a printing press.

The clampdown by the police comes after a reported operation on Tuesday as the Delhi Police nearly 2,000 posters from various parts of Delhi. As per the reports, the posters that were removed by the Delhi police had promoted the idea of unseating Prime Minister Narendra as the posters read Modi Hatao, Desh Bachao.

According to the reports, the posters were slapped on several walls and poles of the National Capital. The reports said that over 2000 posters were removed and 2,000 more seized after a van was intercepted by the Police authorities.

The Special Commissioner of Police (North), Dependra Pathak, who informed the media about the police intercepting the van, also told the media that the police traced and nabbed down the van at IP Estate and also added that the van was coming from AAP headquarters on DDU Marg.

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It was reported the man driving the van was arrested by the police and upon being questioned, he told the authorities that his employer instructed him to deliver the posters to AAP’s headquarters and also added that he made a delivery day before as well.

Pathak also informed that 2 other men have also been arrested in the case and two printing press firms were given an order for making 50,000 more anti-modi posters. It was also reported that the workers of the company also pasted posters from late Sunday night to Monday morning. The police have arrested the owners of the printing press for reportedly not publishing the names of their company on the posters. The police are investigating further about the face behind who placed the order.

The AAP government has yet to make a statement on the matter after being accused of being linked to the poster pasting that goes against PM Modi.

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