BJP hastily disqualified Rahul Gandhi as a Lok Sabha member after realising that allowing him inside the Parliament once again will “lead to a crisis” for the Union Government, which failed to answer questions raised by him on the floor of the House, DMK President M K Stalin alleged on Friday.
In a strongly-worded statement, Stalin said Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification shows that the BJP doesn’t even qualify to utter the word democracy anymore as they have forcibly sent out of Parliament someone who questioned vehemently rather than answering him. He also said the BJP IS “scared” of Rahul Gandhi ever since he embarked on the nation-wide Bharat Jodo Yatra last year.
“The action against Rahul Gandhi should be withdrawn. All political parties in India should come together and oppose the action against Rahul Gandhi as it is an assault on the progressive democratic forces,” Stalin said, adding the move reeked of fascist tendencies of the BJP government.
Later, Stalin took to Twitter to call the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as MP before he could go for an appeal as “death knell for democracy.” “The metamorphosis of BJP's vindictive politics into autocracy is happening at an alarming pace. If one goes by history, it is very clear what is in store for such autocrats,” he added.
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The disqualification is a threat to members of parliament, that even they don’t have the right to free speech, Stalin said. Recalling the Surat District Court allowing 30 days to Rahul Gandhi to appeal against the two-year jail sentence, Stalin said an appeal in the High Court is still on the cards and that it is the Supreme Court that should pronounce the final verdict.
“It looks like the BJP was just waiting for this opportunity if one goes by their act of disqualifying Rahul Gandhi within a day of the District Court’s verdict,” the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister added. He said the Union Government has not been able to respond to allegations levelled by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament and alleged that he has been disqualified since they fear that he would “jeopardise their politics” if he steps into the House yet again.
“It is not fair for the Union Government to disqualify someone from the Parliament instead of trying to answer the valid questions raised by them. The disqualification of Rahul Gandhi is an onslaught on all the progressive–democratic forces of our country. All the political parties in India shall realise this and we should oppose them unitedly,” Stalin said.
On Thursday, the DMK expressed solidarity with the alliance partner by sending its senior leader T R Baalu to welcome Rahul Gandhi at the Delhi airport after he was convicted by the Gujarat court.
The development assumes significance as Stalin has been pitching for opposition unity ahead of the 2024 polls by counselling parties that a coalition without Congress will “never reach the shore.”
Stalin has been pushing Rahul Gandhi to lead the Opposition fight against BJP, especially in the context of the 2024 polls. On March 1, Stalin, in a message directed at TMC’s Mamata Banerjee, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, and Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, said Congress should be the fulcrum of the Opposition alliance, and rejected the talk of a Third Front as “pointless.”
“Opposition parties should be united. At the same time, we should reject the talks about non-Congress alliances. It will not work out. Post-electoral alliance is also not practical. Talks of Third Front are pointless. It (Third Front) will never reach the shore. All political parties opposed to the BJP should understand this simple electoral arithmetic and stand united,” Stalin said.
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