Rahul Gandhi, the 'prince' at the centre of India's opposition to Modi

FILE PHOTO: Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader of India's main opposition Congress party, arrives to address the media after the initial poll results in Karnataka elections at the party headquarters, in New Delhi, India, May 13, 2023. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers, can breathe a sigh of relief after the top court suspended his defamation conviction, paving the way for a return to parliament.

It is Gandhi's potent lineage that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seek to attack when they say dynastic politics has no role in a democracy - Modi, in his speeches, often refers to Gandhi as a "prince".