New Delhi (PTI): Robust political discourse is the essence of democracy and the law ought not to be set in motion to silence leading voices of the Opposition, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Friday, a day after Rahul Gandhi was sentenced by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.

The court in Surat sentenced Gandhi to two years jail in the case filed against him over his "Modi surname" remarks.

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The court also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.

In a tweet without naming anyone, Chidambaram said, "Robust political discourse is the essence of democracy. The law ought not to be set in motion to silence leading voices of the democratic Opposition."

"Noisy appreciation of the 'might' of the law must be tempered by calm introspection on the 'plight' of democratic voices," he said.

The Congress has said that the conviction of Gandhi was "erroneous and unsustainable" and will be challenged in a higher court. It has expressed hope that the judgment will be stayed and quashed.

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Friday said legal processes are used far too often for political ends and both the process and the outcome are "bizarre".

Sibal said, "Rahul Gandhi, sentenced for 2 years for defamation. Legal processes are used far too often for political ends! Both the process and the outcome is bizarre."

Sibal, who had been a Union minister during the UPA I and II, had quit the Congress in May last year and was elected to Rajya Sabha as an independent with the support of the Samajwadi Party.

Several Opposition leaders have rallied behind Gandhi and hit out at the government and accused the BJP of targeting political opponents.