On Saturday, Prashant Kishor, a popular political strategist now turned activist, expressed his view that the two-year imprisonment given to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case was "excessive". Kishor, who is currently conducting a grassroots campaign in his home state of Bihar, also commented that the Congress party appeared to be inadequately equipped to effectively convey to the public that it had been wronged, as per PTI's report.
𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗵𝗶 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 "𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲": 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗞𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿
“I am not a legal expert but with due respect to the process of law, the sentence awarded to Rahul Gandhi seems to be excessive. In the heat of elections, people say all types of things. This was not the first instance and not going to be the last,” Kishore was quoted as saying by PTI.
𝗞𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗕𝗝𝗣 𝗼𝗳 𝗩𝗮𝗷𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀
Kishor invoked the words of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and implored the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to display a "big heart" in regards to Rahul Gandhi's disqualification.
"Two years in prison seems to be excessive for what is essentially a defamation case", said Kishor, adding “I would like to remind the government at the Centre of a famous line by Atal Bihari Vajpayee that nobody becomes great with a petty heart (chhote man se koi bada nahin ban jaata)."
"The ruling dispensation may hide behind technicalities and insist that Rahul Gandhi's disqualification was inevitable, given his conviction. I would still say they should have taken a leaf out of the book of late Vajpayee, their own revered leader and not rushed to disqualify Rahul Gandhi," Kishor said.
𝗞𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗕𝗝𝗣 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗵𝗶'𝘀 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘀
"They (the BJP) are in power today. The onus was on them to have shown a big heart. They should have waited for a few days and allowed the aggrieved party to go in appeal and acted only if no relief was in sight", the poll strategist said.
Kishor gained widespread recognition for his management of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's highly effective Lok Sabha election campaign in 2014. However, when his proposal to restructure the Congress party failed to gain traction, Kishor opted to return to Bihar and launch his own "Jan Suraaj" initiative.
𝗞𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗵𝗶
"The Congress seems to have little realization of what it is up against. Its top brass needs to understand that you cannot fight a political battle simply by sitting in Delhi, tweeting furiously and staging marches to the Parliament", Kishor highlighted.
Following a damning report from US short seller Hindenburg Research accusing Indian business magnate Adani of perpetrating the largest corporate fraud in history, the Congress party has sought to pressure the government on the issue. During his initial press conference after being disqualified from the Lok Sabha, Gandhi brought up the matter once more, contending that Prime Minister Modi "is afraid of my forthcoming speech on Adani", which he believes led to his loss in the lower house of Parliament.
