Congress leader Rahul Gandhi appeared before Surat Court and recorded his statement in a criminal defamation case over his 2019 ‘Modi surname’ remark. “The court asked him about his 2019 speech, he said that personally he has no knowledge of it. The Court rejected our plea to present two witnesses, who are government servants. So, we approached High Court. If it accepts our plea, he'll have to come again,” said Complainant’s Counsel BV Rathod. The next date of hearing is July 12, 2021. During the campaign for the Lok Sabha election 2019, Rahul Gandhi had taken a dig at PM Modi by saying “why all thieves share the Modi surname”. The defamation case was filed against him by local Gujarat MLA Purnesh Modi of the BJP.