Irish Examiner View: Fresh worry for Indian democracy

The defamtion conviction of Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has enraged many, and could see him excluded from future elections.

India's opposition Congress party activists hold placards during a silent protest in support of their leader Rahul Gandhi in Mumbai, India, last Sunday, March 26, 2023. Gandhi was expelled from Parliament a day after a court convicted him of defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison for mocking the surname Modi in an election speech. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool / AP

The conviction last week of Indian opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, on charges of defaming the country’s prime minister Narendra Modi, and his subsequent expulsion from parliament, has raised fears once again that the ruling party is using the law to silence any opposition in the country.

Gandhi, the son of the late Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, both former leaders of the Indian Congress Party, grandson of the country’s first female leader, Indira Gandhi, and great-grandson of India’s founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, had stood accused of defaming the prime minister when asking “why do all thieves have the surname Modi.”