A follower shook pink flowers on his head, Rahul Gandhi raised his open hand to his heart in thanks, it was a good day for the prominent Indian opposition figure, as pictures and clips from India showed. After all the setbacks of the past few months, Gandhi had reason to celebrate this Friday. The Supreme Court made a decision that paved the way for the 53-year-old to return to the political arena.
As a reminder: In March, things got particularly bad for the politician Gandhi when he was sentenced to a maximum sentence of two years in prison in a libel trial. At the time, the judges ruled on a lawsuit that accused the opposition leader of disparaging the name Modi in a 2019 campaign speech. As a result, Gandhi lost his seat in Parliament and with it his role as one of the leading opposition politicians who will challenge Modi in the 2024 election.
Gandhi could take a seat again as an MP on Monday
The Supreme Court in India has now suspended this controversial verdict. The Supreme Court declared that the judges of the lower court did not adequately justify the maximum sentence for Gandhi. Now the verdict must be reviewed again. Until then, there are no legal obstacles to Gandhi’s return to the Chamber of Deputies, the Lok Sabha. The leader of the Congress party in the House of Commons, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, announced that he would propose on Friday that Gandhi’s expulsion from parliament be lifted immediately. If there is no further resistance, Gandhi could possibly take his place as MP again on Monday.
The decision of the chief justices is of great importance for India, because a permanent disqualification would have meant that Gandhi would also be barred from next year’s national elections. The defamation penalty had sparked heated debates across the country – about freedom of political speech in a democracy, and also about allegations that the opposition was being unnecessarily tamed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose BJP party already dominates the political landscape, would hardly have had any significant opponents in the elections if Gandhi had been excluded. It is by no means certain how much political weight the scion of the legendary Gandhi dynasty can actually develop to challenge the incumbent.
The opposition would have to stand united against the BJP
Most analysts agree that the only way for the Indian opposition to stand a chance against the Modi party machine is to unite against the prime minister’s camp. Three weeks ago, more than two dozen parties formed an alliance for this purpose. But how strong the alliance will be and whether it can counter Modi’s great popularity enough is an open question. At least, rising prices and growing unemployment are making it easy for the opposition to attack the government on these fronts.
Congress party supporters erupted in cheers as the Supreme Court announced its decision. Rahul Gandhi wrote on X: “Come what may, my task remains the same: to protect the idea of India.” In doing so, he brings himself into play ideologically as the guardian of the nation. His Congress party had played a prominent role in Indian politics even before independence and then expanded it further after the British left in 1947; the politician wants to build on that.
Rahul is a great-grandson of the state’s founder, Jawaharlal Nehru
Over the decades, the Nehru Gandhi clan (who share the name with Mahatma Gandhi but are not related) grew to become the dominant political dynasty in India: Rahul is the great-grandson of state founder Jawaharlal Nehru, grandson of Indira Gandhi and son of Rajiv Gandhi. The Congress Party of the Gandhis always pursued a secular policy, which also corresponds to the spirit of the Indian constitution. And this soul of the Indian nation also wants to defend the party alliance against Modi and his religiously influenced party.
When Rahul Gandhi now speaks about the “idea of India”, he is trying to revive the vision of a pluralistic community that the founding fathers – including his great-grandfather Nehru – had in mind. The congress politician deliberately sets this against the understanding of the state that he sees embodied by Prime Minister Modi and his Hindu nationalist movement. Modi’s base has a strong reliance on a Hindu-centric national-religious identity, leaving religious minorities feeling increasingly alienated. They complain that the government is promoting Hindu dominance at the expense of everyone else instead of protecting minorities.