Opposition disrupts Indian Parliament after Gandhi’s ouster

By PIYUSH NAGPAL and SHONAL GANGULY
Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — Members of opposition parties dressed in black disrupted India’s Parliament and protested in the capital after Rahul Gandhi, a key opposition leader and fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was expelled from the legislature last week. Hundreds of supporters of Gandhi’s Congress party demonstrated in the heart of New Delhi and dozens were detained by police. Lawmakers from 18 opposition parties also protested together outside Parliament, donning black clothes to symbolize mourning and waving posters that warned India’s democracy is in danger. Gandhi’s expulsion on Friday came a day after a local court convicted him of defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison for mocking Modi’s surname in an election speech in 2019.