The complaint is from BJP parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy, who has for years been alleging that Rahul Gandhi is a British citizen.
NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi has been asked by the Home Ministry to explain within 15 days his “factual position” over a complaint that he has foreign citizenship. The complaint is from BJP parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy, who has for years been alleging that the Congress president declared himself a British citizen in documents.
The home ministry notice comes bang in the middle of the seven-phase national election in which Rahul Gandhi is contesting from the constituencies of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad in Kerala.
“I am directed to say that this ministry has received a representation from Dr Subramanian Swamy, in which it has been brought out that a company named Backops Limited was registered in the United Kingdom in the year 2003, with address 51 Southgate Street, Winchester, Hampshire SO23 9EH and that you were one of the directors and secretary of the said company,” says the letter from BC Joshi, Director, Citizenship, in the Home Ministry.
The ministry refers to the complaint as saying that in the company’s annual returns filed on October 10, 2005 and October 31, 2006, Rahul Gandhi’s date of birth is June 19, 1970 and “you had declared your nationality as British.”
The dissolution application of the company dated February 17, 2009 also refers to Rahul Gandhi’s nationality as British, the letter says.
“You are requested to intimate the factual position in the matter to this ministry within a fortnight of the receipt of the communication,” the Home Ministry writes.
Subramanian Swamy, a fierce critic of the Gandhis, raised the allegation first in 2015, in a complaint to the ethics committee of parliament, and has repeated it several times since.
Rahul Gandhi, in his reply to the ethics committee, had accused the BJP leader of misleading the nation and had challenged him to substantiate his claims with documentary proof. Denying ever seeking British citizenship, he also called it an “endeavor to malign my name”.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, “This is BJP in panic mode. For BJP, Rahul Gandhi is the only agenda. They can do whatever they want but they will decisively lose the election.”
The BJP’s Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said it was a “very serious question” for the president of a party. “You should be a citizen of India if you want to vote or fight the election,” said the Union Minister.
The election will end on May 19 and the results will be declared on May 23.
