Privilege notice in LS against Rahul Gandhi over 'union of states' remark

BJP leader and Member Parliament from Jharkhand, Nishikant Dubey on Thursday moved a breach of privilege motion against Congress leader and Wayanad MP, Rahul Gandhi for attempting to “incite” MPs and the nation at large through his remarks during the debate in the House on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address on Wednesday.

New Delhi: BJP leader and Member Parliament from Jharkhand, Nishikant Dubey on Thursday moved a breach of privilege motion against Congress leader and Wayanad MP, Rahul Gandhi for attempting to “incite” MPs and the nation at large through his remarks during the debate in the House on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address.

Dubey in a written notice to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said that Members of Parliament have to "maintain decency and should not speak anything that would lower the dignity of Parliament, which is, in parliamentary parlance, categorized as contempt of the House".

Rahul Gandhi, he said, in one of the aspects he included in his speech relating to the 'Union and its Territories' has "once again exhibited that even after spending so many years in Parliament as a Member of Parliament, he is still a novice and continue to be a 'Script Reader' of whatever material is prepared/drafted”.

In his speech on Wednesday, Rahul had said that Constitution India described India as a Union of States and not as a Nation. “These utterances of Shri Rahul Gandhi is an attempt to ‘hint’ and ‘incite’ the other Members of Parliament and also to the citizens of our ‘Nation’, by means of the live telecast, that any state could easily be separated from our ‘Nation’ if they do not want to be ruled by a specific political party and no new state and/or alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states could be effected in any manner in view of the fact that our country came to existence by means of a ‘negotiation’ between and amongst various states,” the notice said.

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Calling Rahul Gandhi a “script reader” and a "drawing room politician", Dubey said it appears that he has even not read the Preamble of our Constitution, which unambiguously states that “We, the People of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic.”

“By usage of the word ‘Republic’ in the preamble of our Constitution, it has already made clear to one and all that India is a ‘Nation’ by all means but, it is quite unfortunate that this simple fact is not understood by a veteran parliamentarian, i.e., Shri Rahul Gandhi, who also share the rare distinction of possessing a questionable academic attainment abroad,” the BJP leaders said.

“In view of this, I wish to give this notice of ‘Breach of Privilege’ and ‘Contempt of the House’ against Shri Rahul Gandhi. It is humbly requested that my instant notice may kindly be accepted under Rule 222 of the rules of procedure and conduct of business in Lok Sabha,” he said.

Seeking a notice of 'Breach of Privilege' and 'Contempt of the House' against Rahul Gandhi, Dubey requested the Lok Sabha speaker that his instant notice be accepted under Rule 222 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business' in Lok Sabha.

“I also request your goodself to kindly expunge the aforementioned portion from the speech of Shri Rahul Gandhi, MP from the debates of Lok Sabha as the same is not based on facts and mere rhetoric for creating unrest in our Country,” he said. In a separate tweet, Dubey said that Rahul Gandhi's “mentality is of Jinnah's two nation principle. His speech in Lok Sabha yesterday is a conspiracy to divide the country into pieces, today gave notice of breach of privilege and misrepresentation against him”.

The LS secretariat has confirmed receiving the notice from Dubey. Leading the opposition charge during the debate in the Lok Sabha on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address on Wednesday, Rahul, in a veiled dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said the Congress smashed the idea of a king in 1947, but now it has come back and the ruling dispensation had created two ‘Indias’ -one for the poor and the other for the rich.

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