Rahul Gandhi alleged some BJP MPs have threatened him
- A Nashik court granted Rahul Gandhi bail in a defamation case on July 24
- Congress filed an application to record political and historical context in court
- BJP MPs allegedly called Rahul Gandhi the biggest terrorist and warned harm
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has alleged some BJP MPs threatened him he would "meet the same fate" as his grandmother, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, for his remarks against Vinayak Damodar Savarkar during the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in 2022.
A court in Maharashtra's Nashik on July 24 granted bail to Mr Gandhi in a defamation case filed against him for remarks about the Hindutva ideologue.
Mr Gandhi's lawyer, Milind Pawar, said the Congress party filed a separate application in court to place certain important developments on judicial record so that the entire political and historical context can be seen as a whole.
"For the past 15 days, our client Rahul Gandhi has been leading a protest against the Election Commission. While this agitation was ongoing during the parliament session, there was a verbal exchange between the Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi over the word 'Hindutva' - all of which is on record," the Congress MP's lawyer said.
"Around the same time, two MPs from the BJP threatened Rahul Gandhi, telling him to 'step aside' and warning that in the future, he would meet the same fate as his grandmother. They also threatened him by calling him the biggest terrorist," the lawyer said.
A big cause for concern for the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha was the "genealogy" of those who threatened him, Mr Pawar alleged.
"In this background, we felt that since this case is pending before this court for evidence, and given the entire genealogy in question and the fact that these are Savarkar's followers - combined with the stand Rahul Gandhi has now taken - he could be betrayed or harmed," the lawyer said.
"So it is necessary for this matter to be officially recorded in the judicial proceedings of this court. That is why we have filed the application before the court today, and the court has accepted it. The next hearing will be on September 10," he added.
Nashik-resident Devendra Bhutada had filed the criminal defamation case against Mr Gandhi. Mr Bhutada, the director of a non-profit, alleged the Congress MP during a press conference in Hingoli and in a speech during his yatra made statements that harmed Savarkar's reputation.
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