India: Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi excluded from Parliament

Rahul Gandhi, January 23, 2023. "This is a black day for Indian democracy," Congress Party youth chairman Srinivas Bhadravathi Venkata posted on Twitter. AP - Channi Anand

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In India, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has just been expelled from Parliament, the day after he was sentenced to two years in prison for defamation. The former candidate for the post of Prime Minister is therefore no longer an MP, although he was the main face of the opposition. A blow for the centenary party of the Congress, which sees its chances diminish before the parliamentary elections next year.

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With our correspondent in India, Sébastien Farcis

It was a thunderbolt for the Congress Party: Rahul Gandhi had just finished a five-month march across the country to revitalize his image and that of his party; this son and grandson of the prime minister has a name that attracts the votes of voters and allowed Congress to hope to represent an alternative in next year's elections.

The BJP hit hard

Now those chances are crumbling, as Sudab Bhai, a political science professor, explains: "The BJP party does not miss an opportunity to hit its opponents, and they hit hard using a court in a state they control. The possibility of Congress winning the election was already slim, it is even more so now. The Congress could even fall apart, and with the opposition divided, there is a good chance that Narendra Modi will be re-elected next year.

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Explosion of prosecutions

The authorities' prosecution of the opposition has exploded in recent years, sending many of its leaders to prison or forcing them to join the BJP. Rahul Gandhi still has a slim chance of returning to parliament if he gets a judicial suspension of his sentence.

► READ ALSO: India: the opponent Rahul Gandhi sentenced to prison for defamation against Modi

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  • India
  • Rahul Gandhi
  • Narendra Damodardas Modi
  • Human rights
  • Society
  • Justice