Explained: Who is Rahul Gandhi, the Indian opposition leader disqualified from parliament?

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who belongs to the Congress party, was disqualified from parliament on Friday (March 24) after a court found him guilty in a 2019 defamation case a day earlier.Rahulwas granted bail by the court and his jail sentence has been suspended for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court. On Thursday, a Surat court sentenced Gandhi to two years imprisonment in the defamation case over his 'Modi surname' thieves remark made in April 2019 during a Lok Sabha election rally in the state of Karnataka.

Following his disqualification, Gandhi will not be able to contest elections for eight years. The Congress party said on Friday that it would legally and politically challenge Gandhi's disqualification. Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the disqualification was lawful and that Gandhi insulted a community at the time of the elections.

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Who is Rahul Gandhi?

Rahul Gandhi, 52, is a scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty. He was born on June 19, 1970, to Rajiv Gandhi (the former prime minister of India) and Sonia Gandhi. His father Rajiv Gandhi, the sixth prime minister of the country, was assassinated on May 21, 1991. Rahul Gandhi saw himself pursuing his undergraduate studies at Delhi University's St Stephens College before moving to Harvard University. Due to the security threats following the assassination of his father, Gandhi shifted to Rollins College in Florida where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1994. He went on to pursue and complete his M.Phil from Trinity College, Cambridge in the year 1995, according to the Congress party's website.

After completing his higher education, Gandhi initiated his professional vocation with the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm in London. He subsequently returned to India and established a technology outsourcing firm called Backops Services Private Ltd. in Mumbai where he was one of the directors, the website says.

Entry into politics

Rahul Gandhi announced his entry into Indian politics in 2004 and said that he would contest the general elections in India from his late father's constituency Amethi, a seat which heretained in the 2009 and 2014 general elections. On September 24, 2007, during a reorganisation of the party secretariat, Gandhi was appointed the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). He was also given charge of theNational Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and the Indian Youth Congress (IYC).

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In 2013, Gandhi became the vice-president of the Congress party.

2011 arrest

According to the Congress party's website, Rahul Gandhi was arrested on May 11, 2011, in Uttar Pradesh's Bhatta Parsaul village for lending his support to protesting farmers who were rightfully claiming greater compensation for their land that had been acquired by the authorities for a highway project. He was later released on bail.

Congress President

In 2017, Rahul Gandhi became president of the Congress party and held this position till 2019. In the 2019 general elections, Gandhi contested from two constituencies,Amethi and Wayanad. He won theWayanad seat but lost in Amethi.

And after the party's poor performance in the elections, Gandhi took responsibility for it and announced he was stepping down from the top post. Sharing a four-page letter on Twitter on July 3, 2019, Gandhi said it was an honour for him to serve the Congress "whose values and ideals have served as the lifeblood of our beautiful nation."

In the letter, Gandhi said, "As President of the Congress party, I am responsible for the loss of the 2019 election. Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party. It is for this reason I have resigned as Congress President."

Following his resignation, his mother Sonia Gandhi became the party's interim president till 2022 after which Mallikarjun Kharge took over the top post.

The 2019 defamation case

On Thursday (March 23), Rahul Gandhi was convicted for a 2019 speech in which he referred to thieves as having the surname Modi. The court granted him bail immediately and suspended the sentence for a month. The case against Gandhi was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Surat West Purnesh Modi. And a day later, on Friday, he was disqualified from parliament.

Is there any other defamation case against Gandhi?

Yes, there are many defamation cases against the Congress leader includingthe Ahmedabad defamation case, the Patna defamation case and the RSS defamation case

Disqualification from parliament

On Friday, a parliament notice said that Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha."Consequent upon his conviction by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat in C.C./18712/2019, Shri Rahul Gandhi, Member of the Lok Sabha constituency representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction, i.e March 23, 2023, in terms of the provisions of Article 102 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951,"the notice read.

The Congress said on Friday that the action against Gandhi was driven by political vendetta."He has been removed from the House for speaking the truth, fighting for the Constitution and for people's rights," Congress president Kharge said.

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