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Journalism of Courage
DAYS AFTER Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that the “royal family” of the Congress was openly advocating Karnataka’s secession from the Indian Union, Congress MP Manickam Tagore has accused Modi of breaching parliamentary privilege by attributing the remark to Sonia Gandhi and urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to send the matter to the privileges committee of Parliament.
In a letter to Birla, Tagore said the PM had disseminated “sensitive false information” among the public.
Tagore’s letter came even as the official Twitter handle of the Congress deleted a tweet which stated that in her speech in Hubballi on May 6, Sonia had said “the Congress will not allow anyone to pose a threat to Karnataka’s reputation, sovereignty and integrity”.
Apart from Modi’s attack, the BJP — based on the tweet — had approached the EC seeking cancellation of the Congress’s registration as a party and urging it to file an FIR and initiate “exemplary punitive action” against Sonia.
“The word ‘sovereignty’ was never used by Smt Sonia Gandhi Ji in her speech dated May 6, 2023 at Hubballi, Karnataka. Since this has been erroneously reported — it is being deleted,” a post on the Congress Twitter handle said late last night.
In his letter, Tagore argued that “the Prime Minister as the representative of the BJP in the Karnataka election has raised false accusations against the Congress against its commitment to protecting the unity and sovereignty of the state of Karnataka if it wins the election.”
“The remarks of the Prime Minister misrepresent the statement of Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the Congress Party, that the meaning of protecting sovereignty as meant by the Congress is the plan to separate the state from India,” he said.
Tagore said such a “vehement” statement from the Prime Minister is “highly obnoxious”, which would set a wrong precedent for the people who acquire high positions either now or in the future.
“In precise, the Prime Minister has informed that ‘Congress indicates that Congress considers Karnataka separate from India’. Therefore, it is pertinent that the Speaker refers the issue to the Committee of Parliamentary Privileges under Rule 222 and allows the same for discussion in the next Lok Sabha session as well as the House should rebuke the state of the Prime Minister seeking an explanation from him,” Tagore said.
