India's parliament adjourned after protests over Gandhi expulsion.

India's parliament was adjourned on Monday after noisy protests by opposition lawmakers over the expulsion from the house of top opposition figure Rahul Gandhi.

Gandhi was stripped of his parliamentary seat on Friday in a move that critics say heightens concerns about creeping authoritarianism in the world's largest democracy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government has been widely accused by political opponents and rights groups of using the legal system to target and silence critics.

Members of Gandhi's opposition Congress party wore black shirts and scarves as parliament opened on Monday. Some threw paper at the speaker, who then adjourned proceedings.

'I want to run the House with dignity,' Speaker Om Birla said. 'Proceedings of the House are adjourned till 4 pm.' Gandhi's expulsion came a day after he was convicted of defamation in Modi's home state of Gujarat for a 2019 campaign-trail remark seen as an insult to the premier.

Gandhi, 52, is the leading face of Congress, once the dominant force of Indian politics but now a shadow of its former self.

He is the scion of India's most famous political dynasty and the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.

But he has failed to challenge the electoral juggernaut of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its nationalist appeals to India's Hindu majority.

The lower house of parliament ruled him ineligible to continue sitting as an MP on Friday, a day after his conviction in the defamation case.

The prosecution stemmed from a remark made during the 2019 election campaign, during which Gandhi had asked why 'all thieves have Modi as (their) common...