advertisement
In a move that comes in the middle of the Lok Sabha polls, the Centre issued a notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi seeking the "factual position" of his citizenship within a fortnight following a complaint by a BJP MP, setting off a political row.
The notice by the Union Home Ministry was sent on Tuesday, 30 April, on the complaint from Subramanian Swamy alleging that Rahul Gandhi was a British national.
A Home Ministry official also said Swamy had first sent a complaint on Rahul Gandhi's citizenship issue in September 2017 and wrote a reminder recently.
As a row erupted, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the notice is a normal process and "not a big development" and that the timing of the communication is not relevant.
Speaking on the matter, BloombergQuint’s Tamanna Inamdar spoke to BJP spokesperson, Nalin Kohli and Congress spokesperson, Pallavi Sharma on her show Primetime Debate.
Initiating the discussion, Kohli said when an MP raises a concern with the government, a notice has to go out. He further said that all the claims made by Swamy are in public domain, therefore, if there is any discrepancy, the Congress chief himself should clarify.
Responding to Kohli's claim, Sharma said that "frivolous issues" are being raised by BJP despite the Supreme Court quashing the matter. She also said that the letter referred by Swamy bears Gandhi's name, however, denoting his citizenship as “Indian.”
Sharma added that at the time of filing nomination, the Election Commission carefully examines the citizenship of a candidate, therefore, this claim by BJP merits no investigation.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)