BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Thursday filed a motion demanding the cancellation of membership Congress MP Rahul and a lifetime ban from contesting elections.The move is based on accusations that the Congress leader is “fomenting public sentiment” and interacting with foreign organizations.
Earlier, on Wednesday, Union minister Kiren Rijiju had voiced that the government would move a privilege motion against Rahul for comments made amidst the discussion on the Union budget where the Congress leader was critical of the India-US trade deal and alleged that Washington had a “chokehold” on Prime Minister Modi.
Dubey revealed to the media from Godda Jharkhand that there is no privilege motion,” he has submitted a substantive motion wherein he has mentioned how he allegedly engages with the Soros Foundation, Ford Foundation, USAID and travels to places like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and the US, and how he is linked with anti-India forces. I
As per Lok Sabha website, a substantive motion is a self-contained independent proposal submitted for the approval of the House and drafted in such a way as to be capable of expressing a decision of the House.
The admissibility of the motion will be debated in the House. In this case, Dubey will have to substantiate the grounds and charges against Rahul.
Under Rule 342, the Speaker may put the proposal for voting before the House.
A privilege motion is a formal notice issued by one member against another member for withholding facts, providing incorrect information or disregarding the dignity of the House.
A member can move a privilege motion with the consent of the Lok Sabha Speaker or chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Once the Speaker or the chairman approves, the motion is referred to the committee of privileges for investigation.
A member if found guilty of breaching privilege can be reprimanded, admonished and in rare cases, sentenced to imprisonment.
Rijiju on his X on Friday shared a video claiming a group of Congress MPs had entered the chamber of Speaker Om Birla and abused him and PM Modi.
He wrote “Our party believes in debate and discussion and never encourage MPs to threaten physically,”
“I am challenging them (the BJP) to reply to Rahul Gandhi’s speech,” said K.C. Venugopal, Congress MP from Alappuzha, said. “LoP Rahul Gandhi raised the most pertinent issues amidst the speech yesterday. Nirmala Sitharaman did not answer his questions. Kiren Rijiju tweeted a video after the House was adjourned. How did he access the video of Parliament? The parliamentary affairs minister has now become unparliamentary. His duty is to coordinate with the Opposition for smooth functioning of Parliament, but here, the minister himself is doing all this.”
Congress MP from Saharanpur Imran Masood said the BJP was expunging everything from the proceedings.
Masood told reporters “Bring the privilege motion and then also listen to the reply,” “Have the courage to hear the response. What exactly is unparliamentary in it that you are removing? Is Epstein files unparliamentary?”
In the Parliament premises, when reporters earlier on Thursday asked Rahul Gandhi about a privilege motion being brought against him, the Congress leader replied: “Do they give you some keywords?
News Edit KV Raman
