What the conviction of Rahul Gandhi means for India

The conviction of Rahul Gandhi – an opposition politician and dynastic heir to three of India’s past prime ministers – has raised questions in India about both a colonial-era defamation law and Gandhi’s own political judgement. Rahul is currently an MP in the Indian parliament, but has taken on the role of crown-prince-in-waiting for the Congress party as a potential rival to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

His conviction, by a court in Modi’s BJP-ruled Gujarat state, is for a public comment Rahul made some years ago, asking rhetorically why so many thieves had Modi as their surname. This was a jibe at the PM, Rahul’s bête noire. What might have been a harmless joke at a private dinner party has been treated as defamatory. 

Rahul’s conviction carries a sentence of two years imprisonment and instantly disqualifies him from his current seat in India’s parliament. It will be appealed, a process that could take years in India’s judicial morass, during which time he will remain out on bail but barred from parliament.