Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday arrived at Surat court to defend himself in a criminal defamation case over the 'Modi surname' remark.
The Congress leader had reportedly made the remark during campaigning for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
While addressing an election rally at Kolar on April 13, 2019, he had reportedly said, "I have a question. Why all the thieves have Modi in their names whether be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi? We don't know how many more such Modis will come out."
His party colleague Shaktisinh Gohil defended Gandhi and said that the party in power should tolerate criticism by the opposition.
"In a democracy, the party in power should tolerate criticism by the opposition. Rahul ji had said Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi are thieves and Narendra Modi is a failure. BJP connected his statement to the Modi community and insulted them," said Shaktisinh Gohil, a Congress leader.
Senior party leader Ahmed Patel also backed Gandhi and said, "Let the law takes its own course."
( With inputs from ANI )
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