1. Supreme Court suspended the conviction over comments on PM Narendra Modi.
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2. Expulsion from parliament due to two-year imprisonment.
3. Gandhi’s return welcomed by Congress party members.

Rahul Gandhi, India’s main opposition leader, returned to parliament on Monday after the supreme court suspended his defamation conviction over political comments directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress party leader, aged 53, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in March, a move criticized as an attempt to suppress political opposition in India, the world’s largest democracy.

The conviction was related to a remark Gandhi made during the 2019 election campaign, where he questioned why “all thieves have Modi as (their) common surname,” which was seen as a slur against the Indian prime minister and those sharing the surname, associated with lower caste hierarchy.

Any individual sentenced to a custodial term of two years or more becomes ineligible to serve in India’s parliament, leading to Gandhi’s expulsion from the body earlier this year.

The Supreme Court suspended Gandhi’s defamation conviction and stayed his expulsion, allowing him to continue appealing the case while remaining out of jail.

Fellow Congress party members welcomed his reinstatement, emphasizing the need for the government to focus on governance and refrain from targeting opposition leaders. Rahul Gandhi is a member of India’s prominent political dynasty, but despite his family’s history of serving as prime ministers, he has faced electoral defeats against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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