“Getting an ass to run a horse’s race…” Hardeep Singh Puri’s comment on Rahul Gandhi

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri lashed out on Monday at Rahul Gandhi, who was recently disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP, saying that the Congress leader should fight the “court’s action in court” rather than speaking out against Veer Savarkar.

“You are getting an ass to run a horse’s race…They really deserve to do some serious introspection…People of India would judge them for what they are…Fight Court’s action in the Court, you are invoking Mahabharat and Savarkar,” Puri said. 

Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha member on Friday, a day after a Surat court sentenced him to two years in prison in a defamation case filed against him over his remark about the “Modi surname.”

At a Lok Sabha election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, in April 2019, he remarked, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” The court granted Rahul Gandhi bail on a surety bond and suspended his sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal to higher courts.

Following his disqualification, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stated that he was not Veer Savarkar and will not apologise.

Rahul Gandhi said at a press conference in the national capital on Saturday, a day after he was convicted in a defamation case and disqualified from the Lok Sabha “My name is not Savarkar, my name is Gandhi. Gandhis don’t apologise to anyone.”

He also stated that he is not afraid of going to prison and that his removal from Parliament was intended to divert attention away from the Adani issue. Meanwhile, Congress MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha wore black to the Parliament session today.

Aside from Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification, Congress has been protesting the Adani-Hindbenburg issue and questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s relationship with the Adani Group since the start of the Budget session of Parliament.

Congress demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the Adani issue and protested during the Parliament’s ongoing Budget Session. The second part of the Budget Session began on March 13 and will end on April 6.