INDIAN opposition leader Rahul Gandhi was reinstated today as a member of parliament.

This comes three days after the Indian Supreme Court halted the criminal defamation conviction against Mr Gandhi for mocking the surname of the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. 

The temporary halt in the proceedings allows the Supreme Court to look into the opposition leader’s appeal in detail before reaching a final decision.

The move is likely to strengthen the opposition ahead of a no-confidence motion this week over deadly ethnic violence in the north-eastern state of Manipur for more than three months.

The court’s order also means that Gandhi will be able to contest next year’s general elections unless a final court decision goes against him.

The defamation case involved comments Gandhi made in a 2019 election speech. 

Mr Gandhi asked: “Why do all thieves have Modi as their surname?” 

He then referred to three well-known and unrelated Modis as a fugitive Indian diamond tycoon, a cricket executive banned from the Indian Premier League and the Prime Minister.

The case was filed by Purnesh Modi, who is a member of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat state but is not related to the Prime Minister.

Mr Gandhi’s original two-year conviction was upheld by the Gujarat state High Court so he filed an appeal in the country’s Supreme Court last month.

The case against Mr Gandhi, the great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, was widely condemned by opponents of Modi as the latest assault against democracy and free speech by a government seeking to crush dissent. 

The vote of no confidence in Mr Modi comes amid widespread criticism of his handling of the violence engulfing the north-eastern state of Manipur.

For three months, Mr Modi made no comment on the worst ethnic violence ever seen in the remote state, which is ruled by the BJP.

With his government holding the majority in parliament, Mr Modi will almost certainly defeat the no-confidence vote, but opposition parties are betting that raising the issue forces the prime minister to address the crisis.

More than 150 people have died and over 50,000 have been displaced since the clashes in Manipur erupted in early May.

The conflict was triggered by an affirmative action controversy in which Christian Kukis protested against a demand by mostly Hindu Meiteis for a special status that would let them buy land in the hills populated by Kukis and other tribal groups and get a share of government jobs.