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Privilege Move against Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha

Privilege Move against Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha

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Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Feb 4: After Several ministers disputed his claims and refuted his charges against the Narendra Modi government during his speech in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the BJP member Nishikant Dubey on Tuesday moved a privilege motion against the Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi for his claims that Chinese troops were present on the Indian soil.

Mr Dubey wrote a letter to the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla requesting him to initiate a breach of privilege against Mr Gandhi stating that he had “not only shamelessly distorted the historical and substantive facts in his speech but also made an attempt to ridicule our country and lowering the prestige of our Republic.” Mr Gandhi’s remarks had triggered an uproar in Lok Sabha with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju accusing the Congress leader of “lying.”

In his letter to the Speaker, Mr Dubey said “Rahul Gandhi, in his speech on the floor of the House, has inter alia raised six issues viz. the mobile phones are not made in India but only assembled in India; forcibly capturing of vast land on the Eastern Regions of our country by China; our country was not invited by U.S. during the swearing-in ceremony of HE Mr Donald Trump as the President; the recent elections to the Maharashtra Assembly, appointment of Chief Election Commissioner/Election Commissioners in the Election Commission of India; and the caste-based census.”

In a swipe at the Leader of Opposition, Mr Dubey said, “This ‘erudite’ person has neither authenticated his gibberish canards nor apologised of using the pious forum of Parliament to defame our country and the elected government.” He accused Gandhi of blatantly misusing the Constitution’s Article 105, which accords privileges to parliamentarians for their comments made inside the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

Claiming that the privilege is subject to provisions of the Constitution and to the rules and standing orders regulating the procedure of Parliament, Mr Dubey alleged that Mr Gandhi was misusing Parliament on an “utterly false and imaginary notion” that he as an MP has an inherent privilege to speak whatever he likes on the floor of the House.

He said, “The fact remains that the Article 105 does not give absolute powers and freedom to any public representative, especially of the ilk of Rahul Gandhi, of there would be anarchy in the House.” Mr Dubey said it was an established legal position that MPs broadly enjoy various privileges are subject to various widely accepted “mores.”

Urging the Speaker to initiate proceedings against Mr Gandhi, he alleged that Parliament’s records and proceedings are a testimony to his incessant irresponsible attitude as the “guardian of ‘India Chapter of Foreign Tool-Kit” aimed at destabilizing the country.

He also mentioned that “Mr Gandhi may also be reprimanded in the current session of Parliament by way of a motion in terms of relevant provisions of the Rules of Procedure. I may also be allowed to raise this issue in the House in terms of Rule(s) 222-223 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.”

Speaking during the motion of thanks to the President for her speech, Mr Gandhi had criticised government handling in India-China border, Donald Trump inauguration and others. He had also raised the issue of unemployment in his speech and said India has handed over production jobs to China. Claiming that Beijing was “sitting on 4,000 sq km of our land”, he said the Army had contradicted the government’s assertion that no land was surrendered to China.

He had claimed that the Chinese have intruded on Indian land but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has denied it. The Army disagreed with the Prime Minister, he had said, to strong protests from the treasury benches. He said, “The PM has denied that Chinese forces are inside our territory but for some reason our Army keeps talking to the Chinese about their entry into our territory and our chief of army staff has said that the Chinese are inside our territory.”

“The reason China is inside our territory is because ‘Make in India’ has failed. India is refusing to produce and I’m worried India to going to give up this revolution to the Chinese, again,” Mr Gandhi claimed in his speech.

Mr Rijiju refuted this charge as well and said he cannot make such an “unsubstantiated statement” about the “relation between two countries.”

Mr Gandhi also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent Foreign Minister S Jaishankar to the US multiple times to “get an invite for the Prime Minister” for Donald Trump’s inauguration as president. Mr Jaishankar, who is a member of Rajya Sabha, countered the charges saying that the Congress leader “deliberately spoke a falsehood.” “At no stage was an invitation in respect of the PM discussed. It is common knowledge that our PM does not attend such events. In fact, India is generally represented by Special Envoys,” said Mr Jaishankar.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also accused Mr Gandhi of making “false allegations” about the statement of the Army chief on the situation at the India-China border. “The words attributed to the Army Chief by Shri Rahul Gandhi were never spoken by him at any time. It is a matter of deep regret that Shri Rahul Gandhi should indulge in irresponsible politics on matters of national interest,” Mr Singh said on X.

Mr Singh said these were “false” claims. “Rahul Gandhi in his speech in Parliament on 03 February 2025 made false allegations about the statement of the Army Chief on the situation on the India-China border.” The senior BJP leader said the Army chief’s remarks referred only to the disturbance of traditional patrolling by both sides.

Mr Singh noted that he also mentioned that these practices have been restored to their traditional pattern as part of the recent disengagement. The government has shared these details in Parliament, the defence minister added. He said if at all there was Indian territory occupied by China, it was the 38,000 sq km in Aksai Chin as a result of the 1962 conflict, and 5,180 sq km illegally ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963. The Congress was in power during those years. “Gandhi may consider introspecting this phase of our history,” Mr Singh said.

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