The Lok Sabha secretariat has asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to respond to a breach of privilege notice over his remarks against PM Narendra Modi in the lower house. The Wayanad MP has been given time till Wednesday to respond to the notice after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey filed a complaint against him alleging a breach of parliamentary privilege.
The matter relates to Rahul Gandhi’s speech responding to the motion of thanks to the president’s address in Lok Sabha, where he had accused PM Modi of flouting rules to benefit industrialist Gautam Adani. Citing the controversial Hindenburg report on the Adani group, Rahul Gandhi alleged that rules were changed by the Modi govt, both when he was Gujarat’s CM and the PM, in several sectors to benefit Adani.
In his speech on 7 February, Rahul Gandhi further alleged the rise of the Adani group began after Narendra Modi became the Gujarat CM, and therefore crony capitalism was involved in the rise of the business group.
Several comments of Rahul Gandhi involving his allegations against the PM regarding the Adani group were expunged by the Lok Sabha speaker after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi wrote the speaker saying that the “unparliamentary, dishonourable allegations” by Gandhi should be removed under Rule 380. Subsequently, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi with the speaker, requesting to move a breach of privilege motion against him.
Dubey said that the statements of Rahul Gandhi were “misleading, derogatory and indecent”. He has said that Rahul Gandhi misled the house by making allegations without evidence. He said that there is no documentary evidence of the allegations of crony capitalism made by Gandhi against Modi. Dubey wrote in the complaint sent to speaker Om Birla that Rahul Gandhi’s comments on the Modi-Adani connection were “unverified, incriminatory and defamatory”.
The BJP MP from Godda further said that Rahul Gandhi has not submitted any duly authenticated document for supporting his statements, therefore his comments amount to misleading the House in the absence of any documentary evidence.
“This conduct is in clear violation of privileges of House and its members besides being a clear case of contempt of the House. I request you to take immediate action against Rahul Gandhi for breach of privilege and contempt of House,” the letter by Dubey said.
The Adani group has rejected the allegations made by short-seller Hindenburg, calling its report a “malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations that have been tested and rejected by India’s highest courts”.
It is notable that as per parliamentary rules when making any allegations against an individual in the house, the complainant must declare the identity and submit supporting evidence, documentary or otherwise to substantiate the allegation.
