The Supreme Court today stayed conviction on Rahul Gandhi in the ‘Modi surname’ defamation case. While Congress and their leaders are hailing the stay on conviction as some sort of victory, other opposition leaders, too, seem to be joining in the celebration to keep the farce of ‘united opposition’ intact.
One such opposition leader who joined in was Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Taking to Twitter, he welcomed Supreme Court’s ‘intervention’ in what he described as an ‘unjust’ defamation case against Rahul Gandhi.
Kejriwal also congratulated Rahul Gandhi and people of Wayanad. Interestingly, ahead of 2019 general elections, Kejriwal was mercilessly turned down by same Rahul Gandhi, who was then the party president, and Congress for coalition. Here is the legendary statement Arvind Kejriwal made announcing how Congressed shut their door on AAP’s face which became a meme in itself.
Back then, this had led to series of memes, which continue to haunt Arvind Kejriwal even now. After all, he had singlehandedly revived usage of ‘lagbhag’ in everyday conversations.
But in politics, there are no permanent enemies or friends, they say.
The day Arvind Kejriwal hailed the stay on conviction was also the day his trusted lieutenant Manish Sisodia, in jail over corruption charges had the hearing in his interim bail plea deferred to September by Supreme Court. Sisodia, Delhi’s former Deputy CM and Education Minister, is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested him in February this year in on charges of his alleged involvement in irregularities in the liquor policy of the city.
Has Kejriwal dumped his trusted aide for ‘lagbhag mana’ Rahul Gandhi? After all, both have defamation cases to their credit.
Arvind Kejriwal’s Tryst With Defamation Cases
Gujarat University has filed a defamation case against Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh over their unsavoury remarks on PM Modi’s degree. Singh and Kejriwal have been time and again making defamatory statements on social media platform such as Twitter regarding PM Modi’s degree which he had obtained from Gujarat University upon graduation. The Gujarat University has argued that the statements by Kejriwal and Singh would give the impression that the university issues fake and bogus degrees. In April this year, a criminal defamation case was filed against the duo.
This, of course, is not the only time Kejriwal has made defamatory statements that have invited legal troubles.
Till now, former Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and late Arun Jaitley have sued Kejriwal for defamation and the latter had to eventually apologise for his unverified statements. He had also apologised to former Congress leader Kapil Sibal. Turns out, over 20 politicians have filed defamation case against Kejriwal for his defamatory statements.