WASHINGTON: A US legislator has termed Indian Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Parliament a “deep betrayal” of democracy, as he urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take back this decision.
Rahul Gandhi lost his Lok Sabha membership after he was convicted by a lower court in a defamation case and sentenced to two years in jail. The disqualification will bar him from contesting polls for eight years unless a higher court stays the sentence and his conviction.
Congressman Ro Khanna tweeted that the expulsion of Gandhi from Parliament was a deep betrayal of Gandhian philosophy and India’s deepest values.
Khanna said that this is not what his grandfather sacrificed years in jail for.
Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley in the House of Representatives, has sought Modi’s intervention in this issue and said that he could reverse this verdict for the sake of democracy.
No official US response
However, there has not been an official US reaction to the decision against Gandhi.
On Friday, the United Nations (UN) said it is aware of the reports about Gandhi’s sentence and that his party, Congress plans to appeal the verdict.
During a press conference, Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Farhan Aziz Haq said that the world body was aware of the issue and that Congress was planning to appeal against the ruling.
