Sambhal (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 21 (ANI): The District Judge Court of Sambhal on Thursday issued notice to Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to either respond or appear on April 4 in connection with a complaint filed against him over his statement that 'Our fight is not against BJP or RSS, but against the Indian state.'

Speaking to ANI, Advocate Sachin Goyal on Thursday said the court accepted the complaint and issued the notice to Gandhi, directing him to either appear in court on April 4, or submit a response.

'Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had made a statement on 15 January 2025 that 'We are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian State itself'. Simran Gupta had filed a case in the special MP/MLA court to register an FIR against Rahul Gandhi. The CJM had quashed it on the grounds of jurisdiction,' Advocate Goyal said.

'We filed a revision petition against that order and the District Judge Court of Sambhal issued a summon to Rahul Gandhi to appear in court on April 4,' he added.

Earlier on January 15, Rahul Gandhi, while inaugurating the party's new headquarters 'Indira Bhawan,' hit out at the BJP and alleged that the Congress and other opposition parties were not just fighting the BJP but the Indian state itself.

'Our ideology, like the RSS ideology, is thousands of years old, and it has been fighting the RSS ideology for thousands of years. Do not think that we are fighting a fair fight. There is no fairness in this. If you believe that we are fighting a political organisation called the BJP or RSS, you have not understood what is going on. The BJP and the RSS have captured every single institution of our country. We are now fighting the BJP, the RSS and the Indian State itself,' he said

'We do not know whether our institutions are working or are non-functional. It is pretty clear what the media is up to. Even people know that media is no longer free and fair,' he added. (ANI)