Rahul Gandhi appeared in a Sultanpur court on Friday in connection with a defamation suit and said the case was politically motivated and that the petitioner’s objective was to seek publicity.

“There are many false cases against me, including this one, which is politically motivated,” the leader of the Lok Sabha Opposition told reporters after stepping out of the court.

Vijay Mishra, a local BJP leader, had filed the case in 2018, accusing the Congress MP of defaming Union home minister Amit Shah, who was then the BJP national president.

Rahul had allegedly called Shah a murder accused. Mishra contends that a court had already — in 2014 — acquitted Shah of murder charges.

“The petitioner is seeking cheap publicity by involving the leader of the Congress party, who never made any statement to hurt the central BJP leader,” Rahul’s counsel Kashi Prasad Shukla was quoted as saying in the court.

Shukla told reporters: “The court has posted the case for March 9, when we’ll prove our point.”

Rahul had first appeared before the MP-MLA court in Sultanpur in February 2024 and received bail in the case. He had his statement recorded in the court in July 2024 but did not appear personally at the next two hearings. The court had issued a final warning to him to appear in person on Friday.

Rahul was in the court for about 30 minutes amid intense security.

Defamation cases have been filed against Rahul — over the same purported remark — in Darbhanga (Bihar) and Bhiwandi (Maharashtra). He is to appear in a Bhiwandi court on Saturday to have his statement recorded.

Rahul arrived at Lucknow airport on a chartered flight and was driven 140km to Sultanpur, close to his constituency of Rae Bareli.

Police had barricaded the highway off to pedestrians at several places. Congress supporters stood beyond the barricades under banners that read “Satyameva jayate (The truth alone triumphs)”, and chanted: “Rahul Gandhi zindabad.”

Recently, Rahul had said: “These cases are medals for me. There are 30-32 such cases going on against me.”

Several people believed to be linked to the BJP have filed cases against Rahul, the charges ranging from defaming Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS and V.D. Savarkar to breaking the law and assault.

“The BJP wants to involve Rahul in as many cases as possible so that he doesn’t get any time for party work,” senior Congress leader Dwijendra Tripathi said.

“What they fail to understand is that such cases are highlighting the BJP’s bad intentions. The people understand their ploy now and are preparing to throw them out of power in the next election.”