Congress gives privilege notice against Amit Shah for 'wrong statement' on farm widow

The Congress on Thursday (August 10) gave a notice against alleged breach of privilege by home minister Amit Shah, accusing him of speaking untruth on Maharashtra farm widow Kalawati Bandurkar in parliament. The widow had met Rahul Gandhi in 2008.

The notice was given to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla by Congress MP and the party’s whip in the lower House, Manickam Tagore.

“I submitted a privilege motion against Amit Shah for misleading the parliament yesterday  on Kalawati story,” Tagore said on X, formerly known as Twitter, while sharing the notice.

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

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

Also read: Parliament LIVE | No-confidence motion always lucky for us; will break all records in 2024: PM Modi

Modi government helped the widow: Shah

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 minister of home affairs, wherein he provided details of facilities purportedly extended by the government at the house of Kalawati.”

“However, this statement has been vehemently refuted by the concerned Kalawati herself to media channels who explicitly stated that the Modi government has not provided any such facilities for the past eight years (and) instead Rahul Gandhi helped her in building her house,” he alleged.

“This discrepancy between the statement made by the Union minister and the reality as communicated by the affected 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.

Privilege notice

Tagore hoped the Speaker would take cognisance of this matter and consider initiating appropriate action.

“The breach of privilege motion…should be initiated to ensure the accountability and integrity of our parliamentary system,” said Tagore.

The Congress member urged the Speaker to seek an apology from members for his “wrong and irresponsible statement”.

(With agency inputs)