Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that he is not bothered by the disqualification from parliament, adding he will continue to defend the democratic voice of the Indian people.

Congress party leader Gandhi was disqualified as a lawmaker on Friday, a day after he was found guilty of defamation by a lower court.

Gandhi said that he will continue to question the ties between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Adani group of companies, that have recently come under scrutiny after a report by short-seller Hindenburg Research.

Gandhi, 52, a scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, was convicted on Thursday for a 2019 speech in which he referred to thieves as having the surname Modi.

The criminal defamation case was filed against Gandhi by a leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), after a speech during the 2019 general election in which he referred to the surname Modi and asked how all thieves had the surname.

Gandhi is one of the main opposition leaders in the country who will go up against Modi when he seeks his third term as prime minister in 2024.

Gandhi’s once-dominant Congress controls less than 10 percent of the elected seats in parliament’s lower house and has lost badly to the BJP in two successive general elections, most recently in 2019.

Modi remains India’s most popular politician by a substantial margin and is widely expected to win a third victory at the next general election in 2024.