Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 21: Even as the BJP stepped up its attack on Rahul Gandhi calling him a “present day Mir Jafar (the betrayer),” the Congress leader on Tuesday re-asserted that he has the right to respond in Parliament to the “totally baseless” and “unfair charges” hurled at him by senior ministers in the Lok Sabha over his democracy remarks.
In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Gandhi invoked Rule 357 which allows for “personal explanations” and also cited the example of BJP MP and then minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who invoked the Rule to give an explanation regarding comments made by Jyotiraditya Scindia in relation to him in Parliament.
“I am making such a request again. I am seeking this permission under the conventions of Parliamentary practice, the constitutionally embedded rules of natural justice and Rule 357 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha,” he said in his letter to the Speaker.
As the logjam continued in Parliament, the speaker Om Birla convened a meeting of the leaders of all the parties on Tuesday afternoon to break the deadlock, but it failed to break the ice with the ruling BJP insisting that it would not allow the Houses to function unless Rahul Gandhi submitted an unconditional apology and the opposition sticking to its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into Adani affairs with the Congress maintaining that Gandhi’s statement in London did not merit any apology.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day after passing the Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Bill 2023, and the Appropriation Bill (no. 2) 2023, amid loud sloganeering. The Rajya Sabha adjourned twice and no significant business was undertaken during the day. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Speaker Om Birla announced that there would no sitting of Parliament tomorrow on account of Ugadi and other festivals across the country. Both Houses will resume at 11 am on March 23.
Parliament resumed at 11 am on Tuesday after both Houses were adjourned without transaction of any legislative business on Monday. The Parliament’s deadlock continued on Monday with both Houses adjourned over sloganeering and demands for discussion of the Adani issue. Till today, the second leg of the budget session which resumed on March 13 has failed to transact any major legislative business due to repeated disruptions over the same issues.
Citing Rule 357, Mr. Gandhi said, “A member may, with the permission of the Speaker, make a personal explanation although there is no question before the House, but in this case no debatable matter may be brought forward, and no debate shall arise.” The Congress leader said members of the ruling regime have made “scurrilous and defamatory claims against me” both within and outside Parliament. “As a result of these allegations, and the rules invoked by these individuals, it is only appropriate that you kindly allow me a right to reply as contained in Rule 357 which allows for ‘personal explanations’,” he said.
He also claimed that there were several examples available on the Lok Sabha Digital Library which show that this right isn’t restricted to responding to statements made within Parliament but extends to allegations made in the public domain as well.
“Finally, Parliament like any other institution is bound by the Rules of Natural Justice contained in Articles 14 and 21 of our Constitution. They are a guarantee against administrative arbitrariness and ensure that every person has a right to be heard in a cause with which they are concerned. “Surely, you would agree that Parliament of all institutions cannot abdicate the responsibility to respect this right when it doesn’t suit the ruling regime.
Earlier, addressing a press conference at the BJP’s headquarters in New Delhi, party spokesperson Sambit Patra said: “It would not be an aberration to say that Rahul Gandhi is a present day Mir Jafar of Indian polity. What he has done in London is the same thing that Mir Jafar did.”
Patra also alleged that it wasn’t the first time Mr. Gandhi had “spoken against India” overseas. “This is just not a random issue. This is a consistent conspiracy by the Congress party and the Gandhi family,” he added. He asserted that the BJP would not let Gandhi get away without an apology for his remarks in London. “There is no other alternative left before him. He will have to apologise. We will make him apologise,” he said.
A commander in the Bengal army under Siraj ud-Daulah, Mir Jafar had betrayed the Nawab during the 1757 Battle of Plassey, which eventually paved the way for British rule in India. Patra said Rahul had done “the same thing during his visit to London”. “He invited foreign forces to come to India. Shehzada wants to become a nawab. Shehzada has sought help from the East India Company to become a nawab,” Patra charged.
During his recent interactions in the UK, Rahul spoke about democracy being under threat in India, going on to say that it was an Indian problem and India would tackle it. However, he added that given India’s importance, democracy in the country was “a global good,” which the world could not ignore.
Earlier senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had dubbed the former senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and the former Congress leader and present Assam chief minister Himmant Biswa Sarma, as “Mir Jafar.” The Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders used the same description for Jyotiraditya Scindia when he crossed over to the BJP in 2020, taking away more than a dozen MLAs and bringing down the Congress government in the state. Former MPCC chief Arun Yadav even shared a photo of Scindia while posting greetings for Nagpanchami.
During the 2021 Assembly polls, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee dubbed prominent defectors from her party to the BJP such as Suvendu Adhikari, Dinesh Trivedi and Mukul Roy as “Mir Jafar.”
Mir Jafar’s descendant Syed Reza Ali Meerza or Chhote Nawab took offence to this. Ali, who contests the historical representation of Mir Jafar as a traitor, declared that he and his family had been TMC supporters but would never vote for the party again. Later, when Roy made his back to the TMC after Mamata Banerjee retained power comprehensively in the Assembly polls, it was the BJP’s turn to call him “Mir Jafar.”
