A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi and some other Congress leaders seeking a National Investigative Agency (NIA) or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe to their alleged links with the Communist Party of China.
According to the reports, the lawyers who have filed the petition in the apex court has asked for an investigation into the details of the MoU signed between the Congress party and the Communist Party of China in 2008 during the UPA era.
A petition has been filed in SC by a lawyer, against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi&some other Congress leaders on “a MoU between the UPA govt&Chinese Govt in 2008”. Petition seeks SC’s order directing NIA to investigate the agreement under Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act,1967
— ANI (@ANI) June 24, 2020
Interestingly, the petitioner has asked the Supreme Court to direct the NIA to investigate the agreement between the Congress party and the CPC under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
According to journalist Utkarsh Anand, the petition was filed in the Supreme Court by activist and journalist Savio Rodrigues and lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha seeking an investigation by NIA or the CBI into 2008 agreement between two political parties. The plea sought a probe questioning the intent of Rahul Gandhi’s to sign this party-to-party agreement.
Demands for probe into agreement
Days after the image from 2008 showing the Indian National Congress leaders signing an MoU with the Communist Party of China went viral on social media, there were demands from a section seeking a probe into the agreement between the Congress party and the Communist Party of China.
Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani had also demanded an NIA probe into the agreement under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. 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.
A ‘secret-deal’ between the Congress party and the Communist Party of China
The agreement signed by the Congress party with 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 August 7 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.
