Recently, congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived at the sessions court in Surat today with a significant police presence to appeal his conviction in the defamation case stemming from his remark about the “Modi-surname” in 2019. As the Congressman filed an appeal contesting his conviction in the case, the Surat Sessions Court extended Rahul Gandhi’s bail in the defamation case and set the date for the next hearing on April 13.

The Congress leader arrived at the Surat Sessions Court at 3 p.m. today to file an appeal against his defamation case conviction from 2019. He was accompanied by Bhupesh Baghel, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and Priyanka Gandhi, general secretary of the Congress. Together with other party officials, Ashok Gahlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan, and KC Venugopal, a Congress member of the Rajya Sabha, were in the city.

‘Attempt To Pressure Court’: BJP criticise Congress 

In response to Rahul Gandhi’s claim that party officials are “trying to pressurise” the court, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been hurling insults at the Congress party. It was called a “drama” by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, who said, “They (Congress) are doing a drama to threaten the judiciary. I condemn it. If a court has convicted somebody, then the drama is basically about pressuring. Congress party considers a family above the country.”

Anurag Thakur, a minister for the Union, also criticised the Congress. “India won’t tolerate the insult of backwards…Earlier, PV Narasimha Rao, P Chidambaram, DK Shivakumar went to jail too, how many Congress people went with them? Is one family bigger than the country?,” Anurag Thakur asked. Sambit Patra, the national spokesperson for the BJP, further said that Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders would cause “mayhem” in order to challenge the lower court’s decision convicting the former Waynand MP in the 2019 criminal defamation case for his remark about the “Modi surname.”