Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Credit: PTI Photo/Atul Yadav
Congress Whip Manickam Tagore on Thursday submitted a privilege notice against Home Minister Amit Shah in Lok Sabha, accusing him of misleading the House about Maharashtra farm widow Kalawati Bandurkar who Rahul Gandhi had met in 2008.
In his letter to Speaker Om Birla, the Congress MP referred to Shah's speech in Lok Sabha during the no-confidence motion debate on Wednesday recalled how Rahul narrated the tale of a poor woman Kalawati while referring to what he called 13 "failed" attempts to launch the Congress leader's political career.
Shah said in the speech that it was the Modi government which ensured that she got a home and benefited from various government schemes, a claim rubbished by the Congress through a tweet in which it posted a video of Kalawati saying that Rahul had helped her tide over poverty.
Rahul had visited her house in 2008 after her husband committed suicide following a farm crisis in Maharashtra's Vidarbha.
Tagore said in his notice that Shah has breached Parliamentary privilege by not upholding the sanctity of accurate and truthful information while addressing the House.
"The issue in question pertains to a statement made by the Home Affairs in Lok Sabha yesterday i e. 09.08.2023, wherein he provided details of facilities purportedly extended by the Government at the house of Kalawati, a farmer's widow from Maharashtra. However, to the utter dismay of the concerned us this statement has been vehemently refuted by the concerned Smt Kalawati herself to media channels who has explicitly stated that the modi Government has not provided any such facilities for the past eight years instead Sh Rahul gandhi helped her in building her house," he alleged.
"This discrepancy between the statement made by the Union Minister and the reality as communicated by the affected Smt Kalawati raises serious doubts about the veracity of the information presented in the Lok Sabha and it highlights a potential breach of privilege under Rule 22, Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules," he said expressing hope that Birla would take cognisance of this matter and consider initiating appropriate action.
"I request you to exercise your esteemed authority to move a breach of privilege motion against the Hon'ble Union Minister for his statement which appears to be in direct contradiction to the ground reality and direct him to seek apology from the House of People for his wrong and irresponsible statement yesterday. The video clip and link of the same is attached herewith," Tagore added.