Gandhi, then president of the Congress party, is said to have included the name of the prime minister in a list of suspected criminals at a 2019 election rally. For example, according to the Times of India newspaper, he would have asked, among other things, “Why do all thieves have Modi as their last name?” An MP from the ruling BJP party, to which Modi also belongs, then filed a lawsuit.
Whether Gandhi actually has to go to prison is not yet certain. The court has given him 30 days to appeal, one of his lawyers said. If passed, the two-year sentence could cost him his seat in the House of Commons, where he regularly criticizes the Modi government as a figurehead of the main opposition party.
The great-grandson of India’s first prime minister, Gandhi comes from a prominent political family. In 2019, he resigned as president of the Congress party after it suffered a resounding defeat in the general election. Indians will go to the polls again in 2024. Prime Minister Modi is seeking re-election and a third term at the head of the world’s largest democracy.