Complaint in Lucknow court against Rahul, Sonia, Priyanka, Kharge over 'anti-national' statement

Lucknow (UP), Sep 20 (PTI) A complaint was filed in a court here on Saturday against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and five other senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, over an "anti-national" statement.

The complaint alleges that during the inauguration of the Congress headquarters in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said he was "fighting against the nation of India".

Special Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) of the MP-MLA court Alok Verma has taken cognisance of the complaint and scheduled a hearing for October 1 to record the complainant's statement.

The complaint was filed by Nripendra Pandey, the former general secretary of the Central Bar Association.

Besides Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the complaint names Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rajya Sabha members K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh.

It alleges that on January 15, during the inauguration of the new Congress headquarters, Indira Bhawan, on Delhi's Kotla Road, Rahul Gandhi said he was "now fighting against the BJP, the RSS and the nation of India".

The complaint alleges that all the other accused were present at the event and by not opposing Rahul Gandhi's statement, provided their tacit consent, making them complicit.

The complaint states that the statement was made with a "very balanced state of mind", a "deliberate intention to destabilise the country" and that it is "divisive".

It further claims that Rahul Gandhi is "unnecessarily raising questions on the functioning of all the prestigious institutions of the country for some specific dangerous purpose", and that his actions appear to be part of a "conspiracy to make India an Islamic nation". PTI COR CDN RC