Defamation trial against Rahul Gandhi over allegation against RSS to start from Feb 22
Thane, Feb 10: A court at Bhiwandi in Thane district on Thursday said the hearing of a defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi filed by a local RSS worker will begin from February 22.
Earlier, the trial was to commence from February 10. Advocates Prabodh Jaywant and Ganesh Dhargalkar, representing complainant Rajesh Kunte, told the court on Thursday that their writ petition challenging some orders of lower courts in the matter is pending before the Supreme Court, so the hearing be deferred till it is decided.
Joint Civil Judge and Magistrate J V Paliwal, however, said as there was no stay to the proceedings, the hearing can start from February 22.
The complainant's evidence will be recorded from the next date, the judge said.
Kunte, a local worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, filed the case against Rahul Gandhi in 2014, stating that the Congress leader, at an election rally in Bhiwandi, accused the Sangh of being behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
He thus tarnished the organization's image by making a false allegation, the complaint said.
In 2018, the court framed charges against Rahul Gandhi who pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
