Not Waiting For Their Views: India Reacts to Germany's Comments on Rahul Gandhi's Disqualification

Reacting to Germany’s remarks on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said India is not waiting for their views or validation and their comments do not matter to the functioning of the Indian systems and institutions.

“We see comments from time to time by foreign governments on India. Germany is a recent example… Not sure what they seem to achieve by such comments. India is not waiting for their views or validation, nor do such comments matter to the functioning of the Indian systems and institutions,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, according to India Today.

His remarks came while responding to Germany’s comments on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as a member of Parliament.

At a press briefing, Germany’s foreign ministry spokesperson said, “We have taken note of the verdict of first instance against Indian opposition politician Rahul Gandhi as well as the suspension of his parliamentary mandate.”

“To our knowledge, Mr Gandhi is in a position to appeal the verdict. It will then become clear whether this verdict will stand and whether the suspension of his mandate has any basis,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by Deutsche Welle.

Germany expects that “standards of judicial independence and fundamental democratic principles” will equally apply to the proceedings against Rahul Gandhi, the spokesperson added.

After Germany’s comments, a fresh political slugfest began with the BJP accusing the opposition party of “inviting foreign powers” to interfere in internal matters.

The BJP launched attacks after senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh thanked the German foreign ministry and Richard Walker, Chief International Editor of Deutsche Welle, for “taking note of how democracy is being compromised in India through the persecution of Rahul Gandhi”.

Gandhi was disqualified from Lok Sabha on March 23 after a court in Gujarat’s Surat convicted him in a 2019 defamation case over his ‘Modi surname’ remark.

Read all the Latest India News here