Congress breach of privilege notice against Amit Shah over alleged lie about a Maharashtra widow

Gandhi had visited Bandurkar’s house in 2008 after her husband committed suicide following a farm crisis in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha.

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Shah credits Modi govt for helping Kalawati

During the debate on the no-confidence motion on Wednesday, Shah referred to 13 “failed” attempts to launch Rahul Gandhi’s political career and recalled how he narrated a tale of a poor woman Kalawati.

Shah said it was the Modi government which ensured that she got a home and benefited from various government schemes.

However, the Congress alleged the Modi government was lying on Kalawati and shared a video of the farmer on X. Kalawati claims in the video that Rahul Gandhi had helped her tide over poverty.

In his notice, Tagore alleged that Shah has breached Parliamentary Privilege by not upholding the sanctity of accurate and truthful information when addressing the House.

“The issue in question pertains to a statement made by the Hon’ble Minister of Home Affairs in Lok Sabha yesterday i.e. 09.08.2023, wherein he provided details of facilities purportedly extended by the Government at the house of smt Kalawati, a farmer’s widow from Maharashtra. However, to the utter dismay of the concerned us this statement has been vehemently refuted by the concerned Smt Kalawati herself to media channels who have explicitly stated that the Modi government has not provided any such facilities for the past eight years instead Sh Rahul Gandhi helped her in building her house,” he alleged.

I submitted a Privilege motion against Sh Amit shah for misleading the parliament yesterday on smt Kalawati story to Honble Speaker . pic.twitter.com/6TZOezVOUi

— Manickam Tagore .B🇮🇳மாணிக்கம் தாகூர்.ப (@manickamtagore) August 10, 2023

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‘Discrepancy between statement and reality

“This discrepancy between the statement made by the Hon’ble Union Minister and the reality as communicated by the affected Smt Kalawati raises serious doubts about the veracity of the information presented in the Lok Sabha and it highlights a potential breach of privilege under Rule 22, Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules,” he alleged.

In light of the aforementioned circumstances, Tagore hoped the Speaker would take cognisance of this matter and consider initiating appropriate action.

“The breach of privilege motion, as outlined in Rule 22. Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules, should be initiated to ensure the accountability and integrity of our parliamentary system

“Therefore, I request you to exercise your esteemed authority to move a breach of privilege motion against the Hon’ble Union Minister for his statement which appears to be in direct contradiction to the ground reality and direct him to seek an apology from the House of People for his wrong and irresponsible statement yesterday. The video clip and link of the same is attached herewith,” Tagore said in his notice.

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