BY Andalib Akhter /
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi rebutted External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj clarification on Lalit Modi controversy and asked Prime Minister Narender Modi to break hi silence on the ‘scam’.
Rahul went on to say, “Gandhiji had three monkeys – don’t see evil, don’t hear evil and don’t speak evil. Modiji has new types of monkeys that preach; don’t see the truth, don’t hear the truth and don’t speak the truth.”
Rahul’s comments came soon after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tore into Congress during a debate on the Lalit Modi controversy. In a spirited fight back, Swaraj said Congress helped Bofors accused Ottavio Quattrocchi and Bhopal gas leak accused Warren Anderson flee from India and roped in Rajiv Gandhi in this regard.
“Yesterday, Sushmaji held my hand and said Beta (son), why are you upset with me? What did I do? I said I respect you and looked you in the eye and said I am speaking the truth. You looked down,” Mr Gandhi said as he responded to the minister’s barbs.
The Congress vice president said Ms Swaraj would be the “first humanitarian who does humanitarian work secretly.”
He reinforced his allegation that Sushma Swaraj concealed how she helped tainted cricket tycoon Lalit Modi get his travel documents in London last year because it was a “crime.”
Earlier, Sushma Swaraj had said:, “Since you like holidaying so much, next time you take a break, I suggest you read up on your family history, read all the kale karname (wrong deeds) and ask, ‘momma, how much money did we make in the Quattrocchi case, why did we let (1984 Bhopal gas tragedy accused) Warren Anderson go? Why the quid pro quo?'”
Ms Swaraj’s caustic remarks invoked the Bofors controversy of the 1980s, when Mr Gandhi’s father, Rajiv, was Prime Minister at the head of a Congress government. The scandal was based on allegation that Swedish defence manufacturer Bofors paid huge kickbacks to Rajiv Gandhi and others for the sale of an artillery gun to India. In 2004, a court in Delhi said there was no evidence that Rajiv Gandhi had accepted bribes. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991.
Sushma’s defence to help Lalit Modi is not credible, says Rahul
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has questioned the reply of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the Lok Sabha on the Lalit Modi controversy. Talking to reporters outside Parliament this evening, Mr Gandhi said, the defence that she helped Lalit Modi on humanitarian grounds is not credible as her family members were working as counsels for Modi. The Congress Vice-President also asked why Mrs Swaraj did not consult her Ministry. Demanding statement of the Prime Minister on the issue, he said, Narendra Modi should tell the nation why there is no action against Mrs Swaraj.