New Delhi: Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Monday clarified MEA's answer in Parliament on Palestinian group Hamas and said he should have been listed as the minister who replied to the question on the Palestinian group Hamas and not Meenakshi Lekhi.
Muraleedharan tabled a statement in the House on Monday, correcting the reply given on December 8 to an unstarred question by Kumbakudi Sudhakaran, MP, regarding the 'Declaration of Hamas as Terrorist Organization'.
A political row broke out on December 9 after Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi said she had not approved a question tabled in the Lok Sabha the previous day on declaring Hamas a terrorist organization.
On Friday, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, the MEA said, "Designation of an organization as terrorist is covered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and declaring any organization as terrorist is considered as per the provisions of the Act by the relevant government departments".
Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), MoS MEA Meenakshi Lekhi said, "I have not signed any paper with this question and this answer…The inquiry will reveal the culprit.”
She later posted on X that she hadn’t signed any document related to the question. “I have called the foreign secretary and requested him to take action against those involved in this," said Lekhi.
Later, as the Opposition parties lambasted Meenakshi Lekhi for her statement and described the incident as a serious breach and violation of rules, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on December 10, clarified that the document needed a technical correction.
"We have noted that Lok Sabha unstarred Question No 980 answered on 8 December 2023 needs a technical correction in terms of reflecting V Muraleedharan as the Minister of State replying to the Parliament Question. This is being suitably undertaken", Bagchi said in a statement in response to a query on the matter.
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