Expunged NewsClick remarks appear on LS site; 'never happened before,' says Congress

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s allegations against Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, over the NewsClick issue, which were expunged from Lok Sabha records, were later uploaded on the Lok Sabha website. It prompted party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday (August 8) to remark that this was the first time that expunged remarks had been restored in the Parliament.

Chowdhury accused Dubey of making baseless allegations against his party in the Lok Sabha. On Monday (August 7), Dubey raised in Lok Sabha a news report from the New York Times which claimed that web portal NewsClick had received Rs 38 crore and the money had been used to create an anti-India environment.

“…Between 2005 and 2014, the Chinese government has paid money to Congress …. Congress wants to divide India …,” the BJP member had alleged amid protests from Opposition benches.

According to an expunged record circulated by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the names of Rahul Gandhi and others and a reference to Chinese government had been expunged. But later, the record uploaded on the Lok Sabha’s website restored these.

Birla acts but…

Following a meeting on Tuesday with Speaker Om Birla, the Congress leader told the media this was happening for the first time as expunged records were usually not restored.

“We met the Speaker, and also wrote a letter to him. Our complaint was taken note of and the records were expunged… Surprisingly, in the night we noticed that all the remarks that we protested against were restored in the records,” he said.

“This is against the rules and traditions of Parliament. This is a threat to Indian democracy. The rules and traditions of parliament are being broken,” he said.

The Congress whip in the Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore, called for referring the matter to the Committee of Privileges for examination and necessary action.

(With agency inputs)