Assam Congress MLAs take out rally over Rahul Gandhi's disqualification

Guwahati: Wearing black dresses and holding placards, Congress legislators on Wednesday brought out a rally from their MLA quarters to the Assam Assembly protesting the disqualification of their leader Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha.

The budget session of the assembly resumed on Wednesday morning after a week-long recess.

The Congress MLAs marched from the official residence of the Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia to the gates of the assembly building. The MLA quarters are located inside the larger assembly complex in the Dispur locality.

"We protested against the undemocratic and unconstitutional treatment meted out to our leader Rahul Gandhi. It's a death of democracy and we cannot accept that," Congress MLA Rekibuddin Ahmed told PTI inside the Assam Assembly complex.

He said the party will demand a discussion inside the House and move a resolution for the same after the Question Hour during the day.

The placards had slogans such as 'We Stand with Rahul Gandhi', 'Murder of Democracy Not Allowed', 'Rahul Gandhi Zindabad', 'Save Democracy', 'Save Constitution' and 'Dictatorship Not Allowed' among others in a mix of Assamese and English languages.

Later, all the Congress MLAs entered the House wearing black dresses from head to toe and joined the proceedings.

Gandhi was on Friday disqualified from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case. The disqualification will bar 52-year-old Gandhi from contesting polls for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction and sentence.

The Surat court on Thursday sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail in a defamation case, filed on a complaint by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi for his alleged remark, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?"