Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday has arrived before a magistrate's court in Surat for a criminal defamation case over the 'Modi surname' remark that he made during campaigning for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The law suit was filed by Gujarat BJP MLA Purnesh Modi against Gandhi in 2019 under IPC Sections 499 and 500, that deal with defamation.
The MLA in his complaint alleged that Gandhi had defamed the entire Modi community by saying "How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?"
While addressing an election rally at Kolar back in 2019, he said, ""I have a question. Why all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We don't know how many more such Modis will come out."
During that time, Rahul Gandhi was the President of the Congress party.
Meanwhile, Gandhi's colleagues have defended him on his statement.
"In a democracy, the party in power should tolerate criticism by the opposition. Rahul ji had said Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi are thieves and Narendra Modi is a failure. BJP connected his statement to the Modi community and insulted them," said Shaktisinh Gohil, a Congress leader.
Senior party leader Ahmed Patel also backed Gandhi and said, "Let the law takes its own course."
Earlier in 2019, Gandhi had appeared before the court and pleaded not guilty for his comment.
