Hours after an image from 2008 showing the Indian National Congress leaders signing an MoU with the Communist Party of China went viral on social media, senior advocate and BJP leader Mahesh Jethmalani has demanded a NIA probe into the agreement.
Posting the viral photograph from his Twitter account, Jethmalani said that the NIA must initiate an investigation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and secure the agreement signed by Rahul Gandhi on behalf of the Congress party with the ruling party in China.
The senior advocate said that the agreement signed in the presence of Sonia Gandhi and current Chinese premier Xi Jinping has possible sinister implications for the country’s security, and called for a probe by NIA into the agreement under the stringent UAPA. He also said that the NIA should secure the agreement.
The agreement signed by the Congress party with the China’s Communist Party has gained significance after the recent stand-off between India and China at the Galwan valley along the LAC in Ladakh. The agreement was signed between the two parties on 7th August in 2008 in Beijing for exchanging high-level information and co-operation between them. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) also provided the two parties with the “opportunity to consult each other on important bilateral, regional and international developments”.
At that time, Congress party was leading the UPA-I govt in India and Sonia Gandhi was the chairperson of the National Advisory Council, which acted as the super cabinet over the Manmohan Singh led govt. The agreement was signed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Wang Jia Rui, Minister in the international department of the CPC, in the presence of Sonia Gandhi and the then Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping.
According to reports, Before the signing of the MoU, the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi had held a long meeting with Xi and other senior leaders of the Communist Party of China to discuss issues of mutual interest.
