The Congress on Wednesday got the much-awaited opportunity to take on the Narendra Modi government over the Lalit Modi controversy on the floor of the House as Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepted an adjournment motion moved by opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
Addressing the House on the issue, senior Congress leader Kharge refuted all the claims made by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is in the line of fire over the issue. He made a point-by-point attack on the Union Minister. Here's what the Congress said:
On Humanitarian Ground:
Congress leader Mallikrjun Kharge said that the minister's "humanitarian grounds" claim was made as if Sushma Swaraj was the only one with emotions and all others do not have hearts. Kharge further said that even if it was on humanitarian ground, she should have insisted on him returning to India after meeting his wife.
On not consulting officials:
The Congress also attacked the External Affairs Minister for not consulting officials of her ministry and Indian High Commission in UK. Kharge pointed that the minister had not even consulted the Indian High Commissioner in UK or senior officials like Foreign Secretary on the issue of Lalit Modi's travel papers.
On records:
Taking on Sushma Swaraj over her claim of there being no proof/record of allegations made by Congress, Kharge pointed that there had been verbal communication between the External Affairs Minister and British MP Keith Vaz, hence there was no record of the same.
Kharge claimed that Swaraj herself had accepted to have talked to Vaz for Lalit Modi's travel papers, and there was no point in claiming there was no record.
On India-UK ties:
Pointing that former Union minister P Chidambaram had told UK authorities during his tenure that giving travel documents to Lalit Modi would affect the ties between the two countries, the Congress claimed that it was not right on the part of Swaraj to tell Keith Vaz that giving the papers to former IPL chief won't affect ties.
On Lalit Modi's wife's illness:
The Congress dismissed External Affairs Minister's claim of helping Lalit Modi due to his wife's illness, claiming that this factor was never on priority for the former IPL czar in his application for travel papers.
Kharge pointed that the two letters by Lalit Modi in this regard mentioned attending a marriage as more important than attending to his ailing wife in Portugal.
The Congress further posed seven questions for the government on the issue, asserting that they must be answered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and not those who have . They were:
1. Why did External Affairs Minister not insist that Lalit Modi must return to India?
2. If she wanted to help Modi on humanitarian grounds, why did she not recommend him to apply for the same to Indian High Commission in UK?
3. Why did Sushma feel that Indian citizen Lalit Modi should have UK travel documents and not Indian travel documents?
4. Why did Sushma not assert first that Lalit Modi should first return to India, and should be given travel documents on this condition?
5. Who took the decision to not appeal against issuing of passport to Lalit Modi? Why was there a silence?
6. Was ED consulted on the issue? Who took the decision to issue a fresh passport to Lalit Modi?
7. Lalit Modi has alleged threat to life. Can Indian government not protect an Indian citizen who has been sought by ED?
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