In a 2019 criminal defamation lawsuit involving his comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surname, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was found guilty and given a two-year prison term by a court in Surat, Gujarat. To allow him to appeal the ruling, he was given bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days. Purnesh Modi, a former Gujarat minister and member of the BJP, brought the lawsuit against Mr. Gandhi after he remarked, "How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?" 

The Wayanad MP for the Lok Sabha made the comments while speaking at a rally in Kolar, Karnataka, in advance of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He was criticizing PM Modi for sharing his last name with the wanted businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi. In order to record his statement, Mr. Gandhi last came before the Surat court in October 2021. In his complaint, BJP MLA Purnesh Modi said that Mr. Gandhi had disparaged the entire Modi community while speaking at the 2019 election rally. According to Mr. Gandhi's lawyer, the court proceedings were "flawed" from the start. The lawyer further argued that because the PM was the primary focus of Gandhi's speech, he and not MLA Purnesh Modi should have filed the complaint.

Key Points

• In a 2019 criminal defamation lawsuit involving his comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surname, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was found guilty and given a two-year prison term by a court in Surat, Gujarat. 

• To allow him to appeal the ruling, he was given bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days.

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