Washington: Indian-American lawmaker Ro Khanna on Friday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification as a member of Parliament is a deep betrayal of the Gandhian philosophy and India's deepest values.

"The expulsion of Rahul Gandhi from parliament is a deep betrayal of Gandhian philosophy and India's deepest values. This is not what my grandfather sacrificed years in jail for. @narendramodi you have the power to reverse this decision for the sake of Indian democracy," Khanna tweeted on Friday.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been disqualified as a Member of Lok Sabha (MP) from the date of his conviction in the criminal defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark on March 23.

Rahul Gandhi was an MP from the seat of Wayanad in Kerala.

This comes after the Surat court on Thursday, sentenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to two years imprisonment in a defamation case over his 'Modi surname' remark made in 2019 during an election rally in Karnataka.

Rahul made the "how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname" remark in April 2019, at a Lok Sabha election rally at Kolar in Karnataka.

The criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi was filed by BJP MLA from Surat West Purnesh Modi.

Reacting to his disqualification as a member of the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Rahul on Friday said he was fighting to restore the country's voice and will pay any price to do so.

"I am fighting for the voice of India and am ready to pay any price (for it)," Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in the national capital, Congress national spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi and senior leader Jairam Ramesh lashed out at the Centre over the disqualification of the former national party president.

"The issue before us is political, more than it is legal. It is a political issue because it signifies the systematic, repetitive emasculation of democratic institutions by the ruling party. It signifies the strangulation of democracy itself. We know that defamation is an exception to free speech, but over the last several years, we have had repeated examples of unthinkable assaults on freedom of speech, more importantly, freedom after speech. We all know that Rahul Gandhi has been speaking fearlessly inside and outside Parliament. He is paying a price for it," Singhvi said.