'My duty remains the same, protect the idea of India', says Rahul Gandhi after SC stayed his conviction

Rahul Gandhi was welcomed in a grand manner by Congress workers at the All India Congress Committee headquarters after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in the Modi surname defamation case. He thanked the people for showing love and said that the truth always prevails.

New Delhi: In his first reaction after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in the Modi surname defamation case, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that his duty remains the same - protect the idea of India and that truth always prevails.

Hours after the Apex Court granted him relief, the 53-year-old New Delhi-born Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter and said, "Come what may, my duty remains the same. Protect the idea of India." The order by the top court paves the way for Rahul Gandhi to be reinstated as a Member of Parliament (MP).

• Come what may, my duty remains the same.
  
  Protect the idea of India.

  — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 4, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  Come what may, my duty remains the same.
  
  Protect the idea of India.

  — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 4, 2023

  ">

  Come what may, my duty remains the same.
  
  Protect the idea of India.

  — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 4, 2023

Later addressing reporters, Rahul Gandhi said, "Aaj nahi toh kal, kal nahi toh parson sachai ki jeet hoti hai (If not today, then tomorrow, if not tomorrow, then the day after the truth prevails). But my path is clear. I have clarity in my mind that what I have to do and what is my work. I thank the people who helped us. I also thank the people for their love and support."

A bench comprising Justices B R Gavai, P S Narasimha, and Sanjay Kumar said the trial court judge should have given some reason to impose a maximum sentence of two years on Gandhi in the case. The bench observed that the trial court and high court spent volumes of pages in writing the judgment but gave no reason why they are imposing a maximum sentence.

Rahul Gandhi, son of former Prime Minister (PM) Rajiv Gandhi and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, also arrived at the party headquarters in the national capital after the decision of the top court and was welcomed by several workers. Rahul Gandhi, who was elected from the Wayanad constituency in Kerala in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, moved the top court challenging the July 7, Gujarat High Court judgment refusing to put on hold his conviction in the criminal defamation case.

He responded to complainant BJP MLA Purnesh Modi's contention that Modis are an identifiable class of people entitling him to maintain a complaint under Explanation 2 of Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code in as much as he is a part of that class. Gandhi, in his response, said, "Complainant himself has given inconsistent versions in his statements creating reasonable doubts that if at all people with Modi surname can be identified as a separate, identifiable and a finite class”.

Rahul Gandhi had also said that the complainant, who is the BJP Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), has also admitted that the Modi surname falls under various other castes and there is also an admission that Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Mehul Choksi all do not fall within the same caste.