Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday moved a privilege motion against Home Minister Amit Shah at the Parliament for “casting aspertions” on Sonia Gandhi.
“I hereby give a notice of question of privilege in terms of Rule 188 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) against Shri Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs, for casting aspersions on Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Member of Rajya Sabha and Chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party,” the Rajya Sabha MP said in his letter to Chairman Jagdeep Singh Dhankhar.
What did Amit Shah say?
In his letter to the Rajya Sabha chairman, Ramesh quoted a statement that Amit Shah made during the Parliamentary session on March 25.
“The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund was established during the Congress’ rule, and the PM-CARES Fund was established during PM Narendra Modi and the NDA’s rule. Sir, during Congress’ rule only one family used to control the country,” Shah said.
Without naming anyone, the Home Minister noted that a Congress leader was part of the PM’s relief fund at the time.
“A Congress leader was part of the fund. What answer will you give to the people of the country? You think that nobody reads or watches it,” Shah said.
Jairam Ramesh’s invokes privilege motion
Opposing Amit Shah’s statement, the veteran Congress MP moved a privilege motion.
“As may be seen perusal of the above, even though the Home Minister didn’t take the name of Smt. Sonia Gandhi but he had categorically by implication referred to her and imputed motives to her vis-à-vis the functioning of the National Prime Minister’s Relief Fund (NPMRF),” he said.
He called Shah’s statement a “breach of privilege and contempt of the House”.
“It is well established that it is breach of privilege and contempt of the House to cast reflections or make derogatory references to any member of the House.”
‘Blatantly false, defamatory’
Jairam Ramesh said that Shah had made unfounded allegations against Sonia Gandhi to malign her reputation.
“In the instant case, the Home Minister had made unfounded allegations against Smt. Sonia Gandhi with a premeditated motive to malign her reputation. The Home Minister’s statement is blatantly false and is defamatory. This tantamounts to breach of privilege of Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Hence, this matter constitutes a breach of privilege and the contempt of the House as well,” he said.
“In view of the foregoing, privilege proceedings may be initiated against Shri Amit Shah, Union Home Minister,” the Congress leader added.