'Modi Surname' Isn’t First Defamation Case Against Rahul. Seven Times Cong Leader Faced Such Charges

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to 2 years in jail by a Surat court on Thursday, over a 2019 criminal defamation case against him. The case pertained to his controversial ‘Modi Surname’ remark, which led to a BJP leader filing the case against him.

Gandhi’s conviction also led to his disqualification from the Lok Sabha, stripping him of his MP title on Friday. The move triggered strong criticism from opposition leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, and Akhilesh Yadav, apart from Congress top brass. However, BJP welcomed the move as leaders Dharmendra Pradhan and Anurag Thakur termed it “lawful”.

But, did you know, this was not the first time Rahul Gandhi landed in trouble due to a defamation case against him? In fact, the Congress leader has faced similar charges six times before, most of them being criminal defamation cases.

Here’s a list of all defamation cases against him.

1. The most recent criminal defamation case that led to his conviction, was related to his “Modi surname” remark, which he had made back in 2019 during a rally in Karnataka’s Kolar district. During an address ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, Gandhi made the remark, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” The remark had sparked controversy back then, alleging defamation and a caste bias by several people.
2. Another very well-known defamation case was filed against him in the National Herald case. He along with his mother Sonia Gandhi was granted bail in December 2015 in the case pursued by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on a personal bond of ₹50,000.
3. On July 6, 2019, Rahul Gandhi was granted bail by a Patna court in another defamation case. Addressing a poll rally in Maharashtra, Gandhi had said, “I have a question. Why all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We don’t know how many more such Modis will come out.”
4. On July 12, 2019, Rahul Gandhi was granted bail by an Ahmedabad court in a defamation case. The case was filed by the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank after he had alleged that the bank was involved in a scam of swapping banknotes during the demonetisation.
5. On July 4, 2019, Rahul was granted bail by a Mumbai court in a defamation case filed by an RSS worker. This case was filed for his remark linking Gauri Lankesh’s killing with the “BJP-RSS ideology”. The bail was granted on a surety amount of ₹15,000.
6. In November 2016, the Bhiwandi court in Maharashtra had granted bail to Gandhi in another case filed by an RSS worker. In this case, Rahul Gandhi had allegedly said that RSS had killed Mahatma Gandhi. Even the SC had slammed him for such ‘collective’ comment, and had ruled that he will have to face trial and prove his point in the court.
7. The Guwahati court gave bail to Rahul Gandhi in yet another defamation case by RSS in September 2016 on a bond of ₹50,000. The case was filed after Rahul had lied that he was prevented by RSS from entering the Barpeta Satra in Assam in December 2015.

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