"Didi O Didi Taunts": Why shouldn't PM Modi be disqualified from Lok Sabha, asks Abhishek Banerjee

After the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in a criminal defamation case, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee asked why the same law would not apply against PM Narendra Modi, who taunted the Bengal chief minister multiple times and in turn insulted the women in the state.

"The manner in which the Prime Minister addressed the Chief Minister was an insult to women in general. If Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership can be cancelled for referring to a particular surname in a public speech, why shouldn't the same rules be applicable to the Prime Minister for insulting a woman," Banerjee questioned.

The TMC leader also said that his party will initiate similar legal proceedings against the leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, to dislodge the latter from his chair as an Assembly member.

"I do not support Rahul Gandhi referring to a particular surname. But the manner in which he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha was nothing but simple use of force, which is not acceptable. If Rahul Gandhi had hurt the sentiments of the OBC community by referring to the surname of Modi, for which he has sentenced to jail for two years besides being disqualified as a Lok Sabha member, why Suvendu Adhikari will not be disqualified from the Assembly for making derogatory remark against Birbaha Hansda," the Trinamool leader asked.

Banerjee was referring to a recent statement of Adhikari wherein he had referred to Hansda, a popular face in the West Bengal Cabinet hailing from the tribal community, saying that leaders like her remain under his shoes. Banerjee also set a month's deadline for the legal cell of the party to initiate legal proceedings against Adhikari.

Asking TMC's legal cell to use the Surat court order against Rahul Gandhi as a precedence while initiating legal proceedings against the leader of opposition, Banerjee said, "We will file a defamation case against the Prime Minister. We will go to court in a month’s time...We want to see that judges are impartial as the law that is applicable for Rahul Gandhi should also apply to the Prime Minister," said Abhishek in his second rally of the day.

Last week, a court in Surat had found Rahul Gandhi guilty and sentenced him to two years in prison in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his remarks about Prime Minister Modi's surname.

The Congress leader, however, was granted bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days to allow him to appeal the Surat court verdict.The case was filed against Rahul Gandhi by BJP MLA and ex-Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for saying "how come all thieves have the common surname Modi" while campaigning in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.A day later, Rahul Gandhi was suspended from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in the criminal defamation case.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat also declared his constituency in Kerala's Wayanad as vacant.According to the Representation of the People Act, a lawmaker sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more shall be disqualified "from the date of such conviction" and remain disqualified for another six years after serving prison time.