Indian Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi Acquitted in Defamation Case Over 2018 Campaign Speech
Rahul Gandhi, leader of India's main opposition Congress party, was acquitted in a defamation case by a local court in Sultanpur, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, on October 26, according to Reuters. The case stemmed from a 2018 state election campaign speech in which Gandhi called Amit Shah, now India's home minister and then head of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a "murder accused." The case was filed in Sultanpur by a BJP member. Gandhi, who was in court when the verdict was pronounced, left to supporters setting off firecrackers, beating drums and waving party flags.
Gandhi, 56, is the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty and leads the Congress party, which has ruled India for most of the period since independence from Britain. Reuters noted the acquittal comes as Gandhi is leading a united opposition campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Election Commissioner over a controversial revision of voter lists.
It was not Gandhi's first defamation case. In 2023, a court in Modi's home state of Gujarat convicted him in a separate defamation case over a "Modi surname" remark, which briefly cost him his seat in parliament.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：拉胡尔·甘地（2025年11月26日摄于印度 New Delhi）。照片：印度总理办公室，GODL-India 开放许可，经 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, India, on November 26, 2025. Photo: Prime Minister's Office (India), GODL-India, via Wikimedia Commons.
