BJP Steps up Attack on Nehru-Gandhi Family, Rahul Meets Speaker to Get Remarks against Him Expunged

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Dec 11: The Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi met Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday urging him to expunge derogatory comments made by the BJP members against him to ensure smooth functioning of the House even as the ruling party further stepped up its attack on the Congress accusing unholy connections between the Nehru- Gandhi family and the United States-based billionaire George Soros.

In a post on X, the ruling party, citing media reports, said the connection between George Soros and Nehru- Gandhi family “runs deep” extending beyond Sonia Gandhi’s ‘role’ as co-president of the Forum of Democratic Leaders-Asia Pacific (FDL-AP). “Fori Nehru, a Hungarian like Soros, was married to B.K. Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru’s cousin, making her the aunt of Rahul Gandhi, former Congress president and Leader of the Opposition.”

“George Soros is documented to have visited Fori Nehru and maintained extended correspondence with her and their association traces back to the time when B.K. Nehru served as India’s Ambassador to the United States,” the party claimed.

“This raises questions about the extent to which the Nehru-Gandhi family may have compromised India’s strategic interests, over the decades, to benefit their extended family’s financial and entrepreneurial pursuits, as well as the interests of the deep state they have been aligned with,” the BJP charged.

Mr Gandhi after meeting the speaker said the BJP has been making “baseless” allegations against him to “distract” attention from the Adani issue, but he would not be provoked by any of these charges. “I held a meeting with the Speaker. I told him that derogatory comments against me should be expunged. The Speaker said he would look into it,” Mr Gandhi said.

“Our aim is that the House must run and discussion should happen in the House. No matter what they say about me, we want that there should be a debate on 13th December,” Mr Gandhi said. “They don’t want a discussion on Adani. In the end, we will not leave this. They will keep levelling allegations on us but the House must function,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Congress Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi wrote to the Speaker, urging him to examine the party’s complaint against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s “defamatory remarks” against Rahul Gandhi and remove them from the record. Mr Gogoi said after the Speaker’s decision, the Congress party is keen to participate in the legislative business listed for the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.

Mr Gandhi when asked about the BJP alleging links between the Congress leadership and Mr Soros, he said, “They will continue to make allegations, but whatever charges they make, we would want the House to function. Whatever charges they make against me, let them.” “Though it is not our responsibility to run the House, we will allow the House to function 100%,” Mr Gandhi added.

Earlier in the day, Mr Gandhi and Congress MPs were joined by some other INDIA bloc MPs in greeting BJP members with placards and national flag, as they urged them to allow the House to function. Rahul Gandhi also met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and sought to present the flag but Mr Singh moved on after exchanging pleasantries.

The BJP has been on the offensive over the issue since last week when it alleged that Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had links with George Soros-backed outfits allegedly involved in anti-India activities. The Congress has dismissed the BJP’s allegations and said the real conspiracy unravelling during Parliament’s winter session was that the government would even put at stake India’s ties with another country just to save businessman Gautam Adani.

The BJP had on Sunday (December 8, 2024) alleged that Sonia Gandhi has links to FDL-AP, financed by the George Soros Foundation and which has backed the idea of Kashmir as an independent nation. This association shows the influence of foreign entities in India’s internal affairs, the ruling party had charged.

Senior lawyer and BJP leader Mahesh Jethmalani also ripped into the Congress and the Gandhi family saying Sonia Gandhi’s former leadership role in the Forum of Democratic Leaders – a think-tank funded partly by George Soros Foundation – and the consequent “unholy nexus” with Mr Soros “exposes her to anti-terror charges… in view of (the Forum’s) public advocacy of independence for Kashmir.”

In a long and scathing post on X, Mr Jethmalani also threw his weight behind the ruling BJP. “Sonia Gandhi’s co-presidency of the Forum of Democratic Leaders (Asia Pacific) not only establishes her links with George Soros, as the Forum is heavily financed by the George Soros Foundation, but also exposes her to grave criminal charges under (anti-terror law) UAPA in view of public advocacy of independence for Kashmir by the Forum,” the ex-Rajya Sabha MP said.

“… the BJP has exposed the unholy Sonia/Soros nexus and the Forum’s sinister objective qua Kashmir… Promotion of secessionism is a grave offence under the UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) and the National Investigation Agency must lodge a FIR.” he also said.

Mr Jethmalani also slammed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who on Tuesday counter-attacked by accusing the BJP of using “the most ridiculous thing” to distract focus from the Congress’ demand – a discussion in Parliament on a United States’ Department of Justice indictment naming Adani Green Energy.

“It is the most ridiculous thing they could come up with. They are talking about some 1994 thing… No one knows what they are talking about. The only reason they are doing this is because they don’t want to discuss the Adani issue… they are scared… because the truth will be revealed,” she told reporters.

“Priyanka Vadra’s dismissal of her mother’s links with Soros, in a concerted promotion of Kashmiri separatism, is a vacuous response that reveals a reckless disregard for India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Mr Jethmalani hit back in his post on Wednesday. Calling other senior Congress leaders for their “silence” – he singled out party spokesperson Jairam Ramesh – he also said the BJP “cannot let the issue rest with the exposure.”

He also attacked the Gandhi family for having “escaped the clutches of the law for too long in corruption cases,” pointing to earlier scam allegations, including the Bofors, Agusta, and National Herald cases.