Congress Gives Privilege Notice Against Amit Shah In Lok Sabha

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• Aug 10, 2023 | Dhupali Das

The Congress gave a notice in the Lok Sabha on Thursday against Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of...

Digital Desk: The Congress gave a notice in the Lok Sabha on Thursday against Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of speaking lies about Maharashtra farm widow Kalawati Bandurkar, whom Rahul Gandhi met in 2008.

Speaker Om Birla received the notice from Congress MP and party's whip in Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore.

"I submitted a privilege motion against Sh Amit Shah for misleading the Parliament yesterday on smt Kalawati story to Honble Speaker," Tagore said on X, formerly known as Twitter while sharing the notice.

Gandhi had visited Bandurkar's house in 2008 after her husband committed suicide due to a farm crisis in Maharashtra's Vidarbha.

During the debate on the no-confidence vote on Wednesday, Shah referred to 13 "failed" attempts to launch Rahul Gandhi's political career and recounted how he narrated a story about a poor woman named Kalawati. Shah stated that it was the Modi government that ensured that she got home and received benefits from various government programs.

The Congress, on the other hand, claimed the Modi government was lying about Kalawati and shared a video of the farmer on X. Kalawati asserts in the video that Rahul Gandhi helped her tide over poverty.

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In his notice, Tagore claimed that Shah violated Parliamentary Privilege by failing to safeguard the sanctity of accurate and true information when addressing the House.

"The issue in question relates to a statement made by the Hon'ble Minister of Home Affairs in Lok Sabha yesterday, i.e. 09.08.2023, in which he provided details of facilities purportedly extended by the Government at the house of smt 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 Rahul Gandhi helped her in building her house," he alleged.

"This discrepancy between the Hon'ble Union Minister's statement 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 highlights a potential breach of privilege under Rule 22, Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules," he asserted.

In view of the aforementioned circumstances, Tagore hoped the Speaker would be aware of this issue and consider taking the necessary steps.

"The breach of privilege motion, as outlined in Rule 22. Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules, should be initiated to ensure the accountability and integrity of our parliamentary system. Therefore, 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 said in his notice.