A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson reacted to the former Indian National Congress (INC) Member of Parliament (MP) Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification on Thursday, March 30th, saying that Germany expects standards of judicial independence and democratic principles to apply in the case.
Notably, the ex-INC chief Gandhi got disqualified as an MP on March 24th, a day after a Surat court had sentenced him to two-year imprisonment after convicting him in a 2019 defamation case. After his disqualification, international support, particularly from the West, poured on him.
In a press briefing, the US Department of State’s principal deputy spokesperson, Vedant Patel, emphasised the importance of democratic principles and the protection of human rights and freedom of expression for strengthening democracy.
Patel also said that the US would engage with India through dialogue on the values of democracy. Six days after the statement from the US, Germany followed the former’s suit and stressed the judicial independence and democratic principles regarding Gandhi’s disqualification as an MP.
Germany also highlighted the provision of Gandhi appealing the court’s verdict and pinned its hope on the judicial independence of India, alluding to its expectation of the non-occurrence of any unexpected interference in the prospective judicial decision.
After Germany’s reaction to Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification, INC leader Digvijay Singh thanked the German Foreign Ministry via a tweet, which later stirred controversy as the Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju raked up the purported remarks of Rahul Gandhi vis-a-vis foreign interference in India.
