Rahul Gandhi issued notice by Parliament panel on citizenship row

Subramanian Swamy had alleged that Mr. Gandhi had declared himself a British citizen to float a firm in that country.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has been issued a notice by the Ethics Committee of Parliament chaired BJP veteran L K Advani seeking his response on allegations related to declaration of his citizenship in the United Kingdom.

“We will deal with it,” Mr. Gandhi said on Monday to queries by reporters while the Congress reacted sharply, accusing the government of trying to divert attention from pressing issues facing the country.

In the first week of January, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had forwarded to the Ethics Committee the complaint of BJP MP Maheish Girri requesting for “appropriate inquiry” into party colleague Subramanian Swamy’s allegations that Mr. Gandhi had declared himself a British citizen to float a firm in that country.

“The Ethics Committee has issued a show cause notice asking him (Rahul Gandhi) how he showed his citizenship as British when he was in London and became a Director...,” Arjun Ram Meghwal, one of the committee members, told reporters outside Parliament on Monday.

Mr. Swamy had also approached the Speaker in this regard.

Mr. Girri, who is an MP from East Delhi, had earlier maintained that it was necessary that people should get to know the reality in this issue and requested the Speaker to initiate an appropriate inquiry.

In a statement, he had also said then that many “contradictory” facts against Gandhi had come up and there was “a big mystery” over his citizenship.

After referring the matter to the Ethics Committee, the Speaker had then said that whenever an MP sends a complaint to the Speaker, it is referred to the committee as per rules.

Mr. Swamy, a former MP, had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last November raising questions over Gandhi’s citizenship.

Hitting back, Mr. Gandhi had accused the PM of indulging in mudslinging through his “cronies” and dared the government to probe the allegations against him and send him to jail if found guilty.

Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury on Monday alleged that the government was trying to divert attention from the “various crises” being faced by the country.

Party leader Digvijaya Singh said that the complaint did not deserve attention. “A person who is born in India and whose grandmother and father have been Prime Ministers of India, can that person be a citizen of some other country. The Ethics Committee should dismiss it,” he said

The Supreme Court had in November last year rejected a plea seeking a CBI inquiry into the allegations against Gandhi and questioned the “authenticity of the document” attached with the PIL and the manner in which the papers were procured.

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'Will Deal With It': Rahul Gandhi Says On Notice On British Citizenship Row

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi, asked by an ethics panel to explain whether he once declared himself a British citizen on the legal papers of a company in the UK, said today on the notice: "We will deal with that."

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan reportedly referred a complaint by lawmaker Mahesh Giri to the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha, which is led by senior BJP leader LK Advani.

The 11-member committee has sent notice to Mr Gandhi asking him to respond to the "complaint of ethical misconduct given by Subramanian Swamy and forwarded by Mahesh Giri".

Congress leaders have accused the Speaker of bypassing "the process of natural justice" by not asking Mr Gandhi for his version first.

The British citizenship controversy engulfed the Congress in November when Subramanian Swamy, a BJP leader, said that he had accessed documents to show that Mr Gandhi claimed British nationality to set up a company in the UK.

The Congress leader was the director and secretary of the company, according to the documents that Mr Swamy said he had extracted from the company law authorities of Britain. The documents showed that Mr Gandhi had called himself "British" on the annual returns of UK-based "Backops Limited" in 2005 and 2006.

The Congress released another document of the same company, in which Mr Gandhi had declared himself Indian. The party also described as a "typing error" the discrepancy between the document and the British government's records.

Mr Gandhi, 45, rejected allegations of impropriety and dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to jail him if he was proven guilty.

The ethics committee has the power to expel a lawmaker. The Congress says the inquiry against their vice president is just a formality, that there is "nothing incriminating" against him.

"The Ethics Committee has to dismiss such a frivolous complaint," said senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. 

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Amit Shah: Congress should be ashamed of Rahul Gandhi's visit to JNU campus

BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday attacked Congress over the JNU row, saying it should be "ashamed" of Rahul Gandhi's visit to the campus and questioned whether "anti-national slogans" can be called freedom of speech.

Addressing a meeting of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, BJP's youth wing, he said the JNU row was about the party's core issue of nationalism and invoked its Ram Janambhumi campaign to buttress his point besides its role in Goa and Hyderabad liberation movement.

"A strange atmosphere has been created. Anti-national slogans are being projected as freedom of expression... Congress should be ashamed that its vice-president goes to the campus and says these (slogans) should be heard as there is freedom of expression.

"If these slogans are freedom of expression, then what is treason?" he said seeking Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's views on whether she agrees with her son on this.

Shah asked party workers to work hard to ensure that it remains in power at the Centre for 25 years so that India could become the 'vishwaguru' as it was not possible in five years.

"In five years there could be development and high growth rate and borders could be made safe but if India has to be 'vishwaguru', then it is a must that BJP is in government for 25 years," he said.

Underlining party's Hindutva credentials, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended Ganga aarti with pride and went to Pashupatinath temple in Nepal to seek blessing.

The party wants India to have top IT and MBA professionals, who also seek their "inspiration" from Swami Vivekananda, he said

The BJP chief also made fun of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to attack Congress and hail Modi's leadership, saying Singh visited more countries than Modi but his tours made little impact.

"He would read from two pages he carried with him which were written in English. At times, he would read the speech meant for Thailand in Malaysia and the one for Malaysia in Thailand... Modiji spoke in Hindi in the UN and the whole country felt proud," Shah said.

The biggest work the Modi government has done is to make the country's borders safe, he claimed.

Invoking a number of Centre's schemes aimed at welfare of youth and farmers, he said the government has made a beginning for "miraculous" change in the country.

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Arun Jaitley takes on Rahul Gandhi, writes ‘How much does he know – when will he know’

Hours after Congress vice president slammed Narendra Modi government in the Lok Sabha over a host of issues, BJP leader and Union Finance Minister​ Arun Jaitley took on Rahul Gandhi writing a scathing blog on Facebook titled - ‘How much does he know – when will he know’.

Taking on the Congress leader for criticizing Prime Minister Modi, Jaitley said that the PM not only 'works hard and involves himself in the functioning of the various departments of the government, but inspires his team to work harder than we would have normally'.

Jaitley added that after hearing Rahul he felt that India had made the right choice between 'the Prime Minister who leads the government and a Prime Minister who is merely implementing decisions taken elsewhere'.

The FM also said, "Shri Rahul Gandhi’s views are shaped by the environment of a political party which has evolved into a ‘crowd around a family’."

The Congress vice president, shri Rahul Gandhi, has claimed that the Prime Minister hardly consults his senior ministers. If shri Rahul Gandhi is to be believed, then smt Sushma Swaraj is not consulted on the Pakistan policy, shri Rajnath Singh was unware of the Nagaland accord and, presumably, I am unware of the Budget proposals.

As one evolves from a young to a middle-aged one, we certainly expect a certain level of maturity. The more I hear shri Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering “how much does he know – when will he know”.

The Prime Minister should be the natural leader of the party and the government. In the NDA it is so. The UPA was quite different. The Prime Minister is to lead by example. The present Prime Minister not only works hard and involves himself in the functioning of the various departments of the government, but inspires his team to work harder than we would have normally. Each one of us, whether the External Affairs Minister, Home Minister or myself, are responsible for each important decision taken by each of one departments. We do not by-pass the Prime Minister who is always available for consultation and guidance. After hearing shri Rahul Gandhi, I think India has made the right choice between the Prime Minister who leads the Government and a Prime Minister who is merely implementing decisions taken elsewhere.

Shri Rahul Gandhi’s views are shaped by the environment of a political party which has evolved into a ‘crowd around a family’. The UPA model of governance was that if a person outside the family is the Prime Minister, he should be reduced to being a figure-head. Given a choice between a ‘hands-on’ Prime Minister or a ‘nominal’ head, I would unhesitatingly choose the former.

Rahul today launched a scathing attack on PM Modi and his government over the "fair and lovely" scheme on black money and the raging trouble in JNU and Hyderabad University.

In acerbic remarks on Modi's style of functioning, the Congress VP accused him of not listening to anyone's opinion including that of his ministers and MPs.

"You have been taught by your teachers in the RSS that there is one truth in the universe - your own and nobody else's opinion matters," he told the treasury benches while speaking on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha.

"The Prime Minister cannot run the country with his opinion alone.  The country is not PM and PM is not the country," he said in a 40-minute speech during which Modi was absent.

Attacking the scheme on black money announced in the budget on Monday, Gandhi said, "Nobody who has black money will be jailed under Modi's 'Fair and Lovely' scheme.  All those who have black money can make it white under this scheme," as per PTI.

Recalling Modi's promise of putting people with black money behind bars, the Congress leader said the government had instead come up with a way to help such people.

He was referring to the one-time four-month compliance window announced by Jaitley under which people with domestic black money can come clean by paying 45 percent tax and penalty and get immunity from prosecution.

Gandhi was sharply critical of the government over the turmoil in Delhi's JNU and maintained that student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been charged with sedition, had not uttered a single word against the law but was behind bars while the "real culprits" were roaming free.

Questioning Modi's silence over the JNU episode, Gandhi said that he had not uttered a single word when teachers and the media were attacked in the Patiala House court complex in the capital when Kumar was brought there for a hearing. "Which religion teaches to assault teachers," he asked.

Gandhi said that 60 per cent of students in JNU belonged to dalits, minorities and OBCs.  40 per cent of them came from a poor background.

"Why are you after the JNU? Because dalits and adivasis study there and you don't want them to grow. But we will not let this happen. We cannot crush the JNU," he asserted in the course of his speech interrupted by the ruling NDA members.

Referring to the suicide of dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in the Hyderabad Central University, Gandhi said that the PM had not bothered to call his mother.

He also attacked Modi's Pakistan policy and accused him of releasing  that country from a "small cage" in which the UPA government had put it through its diplomacy by suddenly visiting Lahore to have tea with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

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Clarify if anti-India slogans should be tolerated: Amit Shah to Rahul Gandhi

Raising the pitch on the JNU issue, BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders should clarify in Parliament if "anti-national" slogans should be tolerated in the name of freedom of speech.

Attacking Rahul Gandhi, who had joined the agitating JNU students, Shah alleged that he was supporting the forces dividing the country for "votebank politics".

"Today debate is being held in the Parliament whether raising anti-national slogans should be tolerated in the name of freedom of speech or not.

"I specially want to ask Congress and its workers whether those raising slogans like 'Afzal Guru tere hatrayre zinda hain' and 'Bharat ke tukde honge' were traitors or not," Shah said at a public meeting at the unveiling of the statue of 11th century king of Shravasti, Raja Suheldeo. 

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JNU row: Rahul Gandhi says Modi government 'terrified of weak Indian people who raise their voice' Modi and Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi, hit out at the Modi government as he spoke in JNU and accused the government of being anti-national. He was quoted saying by ANI: "They are terrified of weak Indian people raising their voice. They do not understand that by crushing you they are making you stronger. People who showed black flag on my face, I feel proud that in my country they have the right to show black flag in front of my face."

He added: "You must question them at every single step. Question yourselves also. Look inside yourselves & question yourselves. Later, a Minister turns around and says he was not even a Dalit. Sushma Swarajji nobody askd whether he ws Dalit or nt,ques is why wasn't Indian students allowed to say &fight for what he believes

When we fought the British, we fought them for our land and we fought them for our voice I came here to tell you, there are more than billion people in country who believe what you believe in & standing right behind you. The most important thing we have is the voice of our people."

He was also quoted saying: "What is anti-national? Most anti-national people are those suppressing the voice of students in JNU."

Earlier, the Congress hit back in the JNU row, accusing the Narendra Modi government of being anti-JNU and targetting Left and progressive forces. "This govt is anti-JNU & wants to shut down the Univ. They're using this as a trigger to target Left-liberal & progressive forces," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari tweeted. In an apparent reference to the arrest of JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, Tewari said, "Law of sedition is very clear & they'll never be able to substantiate charges under the sedition law."

Tiwari insisted that "freedom of speech and expression is circumscribed by reasonable restriction". Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders who have criticised the arrest of the JNU student leader, BJP had earlier alleged that they were speaking in the voice of terror outfit LeT which was an "insult" to the martyrs and would boost the morale of anti-national forces.

ABVP members at JNU didn't take too kindly to Rahul Gandhi's visit as they waved black flags at the Congress VP. They also shouted: "Rahul Gandhi go back." Earlier, Rahul Gandhi added his voice to the debate saying that while 'anti-India sentiment is unacceptable, debate is part of a democracy.

He said: "While Anti-India sentiment is unquestionably unacceptable, the right to dissent & debate is an essential ingredient of democracy. Modi Govt & ABVP bullying an institution like JNU simply because it won't toe their line is completely condemnable."

Agitated over the arrest of JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in a case of sedition over an Afzal Guru event in the varsity, the students and teachers condemned the action against Kumar as "uncalled" for. Alleging that the students are being "witch-hunted" and police is targeting them mindlessly, the students continued with their protests outside the Vice Chancellor's office demanding the administration's intervention into the manner in which students are being compared to "terrorists" and picked up from campus by policemen in plain clothes. The students also claimed that their parents are asking them to quit the university in view of the "vitiating atmosphere" at Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU).

"The police is mindlessly patrolling the campus and the students are being witch-hunted and demonised for doing nothing. What is the proof that Kanhaiya was there among those raising anti-India slogans? Has he been spotted in any picture or video? Why are all JNU students being given 'anti-national' certificates. We condemn the arrest," said JNUSU vice president Shehla Rashid Shora.

A member of the All India Students Association (AISA) said, "Why is the administration not protecting students against this selective targeting by ABVP. Why police have been given such a free hand to rashly pick students from campus? Why were the cops not uniformed? If there has to be an inquiry, why no protocols are being followed?" Shivani Behl, a student at varsity's School of Social Sciences said, "my parents today asked me to quit the university and go back to my hometown in Bihar as the varsity's atmosphere was very vitiating". JNU Teacher's Association (JNUTA) issued a statement terming the "excessive police action" as an attack on the varsity which is known for its democratic ethos.

"The JNU teaching community is extremely concerned at threat to democratic ethos, which has played a critical role in assuring that university serves its social function and secure its position as one of the premier institution of higher education," it said. President Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested in a sedition case over an event at the varsity's campus against hanging of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, sparking massive outrage among students and criticism from non-BJP parties which dubbed it as an "emergency-like" situation. Meanwhile, after receiving an interim report from its disciplinary committee probing the involvement of the students at the event, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) debarred eight students from academic activities pending a disciplinary enquiry.

Earlier in the day, Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Rajnath Singh had advocated strong action against those who were involved in the alleged "anti-India" act even as the students continued with their protests on the campus for the third day, saying they are being "witch-hunted". The students said their parents are asking them to quit the university in view of the "vitiated atmosphere" at the varsity.

The arrest of Kanhaiya, a day after police filed a sedition and criminal conspiracy case on complaints from BJP MP Maheish Girri and ABVP members, was later remanded in three-day police custody by a local court. After the arrest, the varsity students and teachers protested outside the Vice Chancellor's office demanding the administration's intervention into the manner in which students are being compared to "terrorists" and picked up from campus by policemen in plain clothes during alleged raids.

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David Headley Revelations: BJP wants Sonia and Rahul to apologise for trying to 'fix' Modi

Leading the attack on opposition leaders for trying to 'fool the people', Home Minister Rajnath Singh led the clarion call for the Congress and other parties to apologise. He told ANI: "You must have heard what David Headley has just said in Court, that Ishrat Jahan was a suicide bomber. Ishrat Jahan regarding whom so many accusations were cast on our leaders. Tell me, will the accusing political parties now apologise to the nation for trying to fool the people?"He also asserted that the revelations made by David Coleman Headley before a Mumbai special court has exposed Pakistan, adding that New Delhi would still prefer cordial relations with Islamabad. "I think Pakistan has been exposed. Even then, we would like to have a very cordial relationship with Pakistan," Singh told the media.

Deposing from an undisclosed location in the US, Headley had so far told the special court that the ISI was helping different terror outfits in Pakistan and was providing financial, military and moral support. Headley, who had conducted recce of the places in Mumbai which were attacked by 10 LeT terrorists on November 26, 2008, also revealed that the outfit had initially planned to attack a conference of Indian defence scientists in Taj Mahal Hotel.

He also said he had also conducted a recce of the famous Siddhivinayak Temple and Naval Air Station on directions of LeT commanders

Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley's deposition that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an encounter in Gujarat in 2004, was an LeT operative led to a political slugfest with BJP demanding that the Congress leadership should apologise for "targeting Narendra Modi over her killing at the cost of national security". BJP accused Congress of politicising the encounter as part of its "hate politics" against Modi, then Gujarat chief minister, and said if its chief Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi had any "shame" left, then they must apologise to the nation.

Police personnel who fought terrorists risking their lives were put behind bars by the then UPA government and security agencies like CBI and IB were politicised, party secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged, saying it was done to "defame and fix" Modi as part of a "political conspiracy".

"Headley's deposition that she was a LeT's suicide bomber has unmasked those who do politics over terrorism. We do not expect any morality from Congress. But if Sonia and her son Rahul Gandhi, who is a champion in politics of conspiracy, have any shame left, then they must apologise to the nation.

"They should apologise to the police personnel' families who had to suffer after they were put in jail for killing these terrorists in encounter. Congress and its allies linked terrorists with religion to mask their corrupt governance," he told a press conference.

Congress sought to dismiss BJP demands for an apology in the wake of David Headley's claims that Ishrat Jahan was an LeT operative, insisting that the "fundamental question" was whether she and her accomplices were killed in fake encounter.

Sharma also cited comments of Congress leaders questioning the Batla House encounter and their allusion to RSS hand in 26/11 Mumbai attack to attack the opposition party. "It has become clear that Congress played with national security. It is height of hate politics," he said.

Immediately after Headley's testimony, a battery of BJP leaders swung into action to attack Congress, claiming that its leaders dubbed Ishrat as a "martyr" only to "fix" Modi.

BJP cited a number of developments during the UPA's tenure, including "contradictory" affidavits filed in court over Ishrat case and NIA's reported decision to omit Headley's statement to it in which he allegedly said that she was an LeT terrorist, to argue that Congress used her killing to target Modi and Amit Shah, then a Gujarat minister and now party chief. Somebody had stated she was a college-going girl and somebody else said she was a martyr and all these people have been unmasked now, Sharma said.

It is clear that she and her associates were on a mission to kill Modi and attack religious places, he claimed.

BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain attacked the "secular brigade" and took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for using Ishrat's killing as an issue during then Bihar polls by terming her a 'Bihar ki beti'. Another party spokesperson, Nalin Kohli noted that LeT had portrayed her as a "martyr" on its website but "government agencies at that time were put at war with each other and attempts were made at fixing individuals... instead of finding the truth".

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