On 25th March 2023, former Congress MP Rahul Gandhi held his first press conference after being disqualified from his Lok Sabha membership owing to his conviction in a criminal defamation case against him in a Surat court. A criminal defamation case was filed by Gujarat BJP leader Purnesh Modi after Rahul Gandhi, in an election rally in 2019, had asked why everyone with the Modi surname is a thief, mentioning Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi.
When asked whether he would apologise for his 2019 remark, Rahul Gandhi retorted arrogantly, “I am a Gandhi and not Savarkar, and Gandhis do not apologise.” It is notable that earlier he had tendered an unconditional apology to the Supreme Court for lying that the court had said ‘Chowkidar chor hai’.
Rahul Gandhi apologised for ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ jibe
On 8th May 2019, Rahul Gandhi tendered an unconditional apology in the Supreme Court for “unintentionally and inadvertently” attributing the ‘Chowkidar Chor hai’ jibe against Prime Minister Modi to the court’s order on the Rafale Review plea. On 10th April 2019, while campaigning at a rally, Rahul Gandhi stated that the Supreme Court order says, “Chowkidar Chor Hai”. BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi had filed a contempt plea against the statement on which the SC had issued a notice to Rahul Gandhi. The court had stated that it has never said so.
The SC had allowed the admissibility of three documents in their hearing of the review petitions on the Rafale verdict. Rahul Gandhi and Congress had promoted the step as a big victory against the NDA government. Rahul’s unconditional apology came after much embarrassment to his image and his party as he was made to admit he had said it in ‘the heat of campaigning’.
The Supreme Court had also objected to the affidavit submitted by Rahul Gandhi. The then CJI Ranjan Gogoi had stated during a hearing that Gandhi admitted wrongly attributing the remark but he stands by it. Later, the SC also raised an objection regarding Rahul Gandhi’s affidavits. The court had stated that ‘regret’ is not ‘apology’ and had ordered Rahul to submit an unconditional apology.
Why the Rafale review petition was filed?
It is notable that the Rafale deal which is an inter-governmental deal between the governments of India and France for 36 Rafale fighter jets in flyaway condition was in the eye of the storm for a rather long time. The opposition used this necessary defense deal to train its guns against the Narendra Modi government to insinuate a scam.
Congress-friendly career PILists like Prashant Bhushan and others filed a PIL in the Supreme Court asking the SC to intervene and order a court-monitored probe into the deal. The Supreme Court, however, dismissed the petition. The Court also heard an application for initiating perjury proceedings against officials who had allegedly misled the Court. On Thursday, 14th November 2019, the Supreme Court dismissed even the review petitions.
