Rising India Summit: ‘No vendetta politics...it’s the law of the land’: Amit Shah on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification

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New Delhi: Staunchly denying the allegation that vendetta politics is at work as far as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent disqualification from Parliament is concerned, Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the law of the land is clear on an MP’s disqualification and the Lok Sabha speaker had no authority to stop any leader’s disqualification following his conviction.

“Rahul Gandhi did not appear before the Court and wants to remain a Member of Parliament. What kind of arrogance is this and where does it come from? No vendetta politics occurred on this issue as a court of law has ordered his conviction…PM Modi is often blamed for whatever happens to the Opposition, but the Lok Sabha speaker had no authority to stop his disqualification,” Shah said.

“I want to clear the false narrative that the Congress has been spreading. Rahul Gandhi is not the first leader who has been disqualified from Parliament. There are 17 others who were disqualified earlier. Why was democracy not threatened when Lalu Prasad Yadav was disqualified? Why is it that democracy is threatened when a Congress scion has been disqualified for defamatory remarks that he has made?” Shah asked.

The Union home minister was speaking at the Rising India Summit 2023. He was part of the final session of Day 1 of the Rising India Summit 2023—a leadership forum.

Vividly recalling the 2013 incident when the Congress leader had “publicly torn” the ordinance brought in during Manmohan Singh’s regime, Shah added that the law is very clear on the disqualification of a Member of Parliament and had Gandhi not been so “arrogant back then, he could have saved himself from disqualification now.”

“Rahul Gandhi tore the ordinance publicly during Manmohan Singh’s tenure. Nobody dared to say anything to Rahul Gandhi back then…the Supreme Court order on this came when the Congress-led UPA government was in power in 2013. We did not make corrections in the law over the matter. The law already existed,” the minister said citing a top court verdict of 2013.

On being asked whether the government had been hasty in asking the Congress leader to vacate his MP’s bungalow, Shah wanted to know why Gandhi should be given special favours. “If he stands disqualified from Parliament, he should not be enjoying special privileges given to an MP,” Shah said referring to the Centre’s prompt notice to Gandhi to vacate his bungalow.

Refuting allegations that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been trying to give Gandhi’s defamatory remarks an OBC colour, the home minister went on to add that the Congress leader should not have dragged freedom fighter Veer Savarkar’s name into the controversy when he attacked the BJP after his disqualification.

“Rahul Gandhi should read his grandmother’s speech on Veer Savarkar,” Shah quipped.

Predicting that the BJP will come to power in the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka, Shah said that his party would definitely cross the halfway mark and form the government with an absolute majority in the southern state. When asked about the BJP’s CM nominee in the upcoming assembly polls, he said, “Though BS Yediyurappa is one of the tallest leaders in Karnataka and the BJP’s star campaigner, we have not decided on a chief ministerial face yet.”

He also indicated that there was no question of a pre-poll alliance with the JD(S) in Karnataka and added that the party would not need to enter into a coalition since he was confident that the BJP would secure a thumping majority.

On the Opposition’s claim that the BJP at the Centre rampantly misused Central investigative agencies to stifle voices of dissent and curb political opponents, the Union home minister said, “We promised voters in the 2014 general elections that our fight is against corruption. Lakhs of innocent leaders were put behind bars during the Emergency. I was pressurised by the CBI to frame PM Modi (then Gujarat CM) in a fake encounter case…We did not make a hue and cry about it the way Congress is behaving now.

“I too, have been a victim of misuse of Central agencies when the UPA was in power at the Centre,” he added in response to allegations of blatant misuse of federal agencies.

“There are no fake cases against anyone, and we should have faith in the law. They (the opposition) should approach the court if the government is misusing Central agencies…These are the very same people P Chidambaram, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi. Unlike them, we haven’t registered any false cases,” Shah said.

Quizzed on Khalistani separatist leader Amritpal Singh managing to give police the slip in Punjab and then later in the national capital, the home minister said irrespective of which party was in power in Punjab, the Centre would extend all possible aid to the state police to help capture the fugitive since it was an issue of national security.

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