Nehru dynastic heir Rahul G no sacred cow in Lok Sabha

Heir to the Nehru political dynasty, great grandson of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, leader of India’s opposition Congress party, 52-year-old Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from sitting in Parliament on Friday.

This follows his conviction on Thursday by a Gujarati Court for criminally defaming Indian Prime Minister Modi by saying,

‘How come all thieves have the common surname, Modi?" He was sentenced to two years imprisonment. However, his sentence was suspended for 50 days to allow him time to appeal against the conviction and sentence.

In the Indian Parliament, there was no question as to whether his disqualification from parliament should be held in abeyance pending the outcome of his appeal. The fact that he had been convicted for two years was enough to disqualify him. Until he disproved his guilt at a later stage, he was a convict.

Take the Lankan case of Prasanna Ranatunga. SLPP Minister, Ranatunga, 56, was found guilty in June last year of extortion. He had demanded a bribe of 64 million rupees from a businessman in 2015 after using his powers as Chief Minister of the province to evict a group of people who had been in occupation in a 2 acre land for a long time.

He was sentenced to 2 years rigorous imprisonment and fined 25 million rupees. The two-year prison sentence was suspended for five years. He has appealed.

The Lankan Constitution disqualifies any person from sitting in Parliament if he or she is convicted of a criminal offence which carries a minimum of two years in prison. The ruling SLPP party, however, interpreted these provisions and held it not to apply to a person so convicted until the outcome of his appeal to a higher court.

Under this unilateral take on the constitutional article, without any legal founding, he was allowed to not only sit in parliament as an MP but to continue sitting at the cabinet table as a minister of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government. After Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed office as President, Prasanna Ranatunga was reappointed to the cabinet as the Minister for Urban Development and Housing.

That is the difference between India and Sri Lanka. Why India boasts a vibrant democracy where the rule of law is supreme and why Lanka is still thrashing in the sewers.