New Delhi: A minister in the Narendra Modi-led government has disowned an answer given in Parliament in her name and demanded an inquiry into it — a first in India’s parliamentary history.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi Saturday rang up Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra demanding a probe into a “breach”, which, she said, led to a written reply to a Lok Sabha question on Hamas being issued in her name without her approval.
Lekhi also announced on X (formerly Twitter) that an “inquiry will reveal the culprit” after it was pointed out that the websites of the Lok Sabha and the Ministry of External Affairs continue to carry the question and the response in her name, given Friday. She also tagged the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in her post.
Inquiry will reveal the culprit @DrSJaishankar @PMOIndia https://t.co/XPpfrlaUQ3
— Meenakashi Lekhi (@M_Lekhi) December 8, 2023
Nearly 16 hours after Lekhi went public with the issue, the MEA sought to put a lid on the controversy, saying the response needs a “technical correction in terms of reflecting V. Muraleedharan as the Minister of State replying to the Parliament question. This is being suitably undertaken.”
Lekhi’s statements created a flutter, with the Opposition using the opportunity to get back at the government over the expulsion of the Trinamool Congress’s Mahua Moitra Friday for her “unethical conduct” of sharing her Lok Sabha portal ID and password with an “unauthorised person”.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that if asking questions through someone else could lead to Moitra’s expulsion, a minister denying that her response to a Lok Sabha question was approved by her needs to be investigated as well.
Asking questions that were submitted through someone else led to expulsion of an MP yesterday, today a Minister denies that reply to a PQ was approved by her, shouldn’t that be investigated too? Shouldn’t it lead to seeking accountability, however innocuous the response from… https://t.co/WdZf0oRDMy
— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) December 9, 2023
The matter came to light after Lekhi, replying to a post on X on the Lok Sabha question, said that she had “not signed any paper with this question and this answer”.
You have been misinformed as I have not signed any paper with this question and this answer @DrSJaishankar @PMOIndia https://t.co/4xUWjROeNH
— Meenakashi Lekhi (@M_Lekhi) December 8, 2023
Congress MP Kumbakudi Sudhakaran had asked the unstarred question on whether the Centre planned to declare Hamas a terrorist organisation in India. He also sought to know if the Israeli government had raised any such demand with New Delhi.
The reply, issued in Lekhi’s name, was generic in nature.
“Designation of an organisation as terrorist is covered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and declaring any organisation as terrorist is considered as per the provisions of the Act by the relevant government departments,” the response read.
However, first on X, and later responding to a question on the issue at a press conference at the BJP headquarters, Lekhi said the question and the answer were never put up before her.
“I want to say that I never signed any paper regarding that question. Regarding this breach, I have directly tagged (on X) the PMO, Dr S. Jaishankar, called the foreign secretary and said it should be probed. I demanded that the people who did this should be acted against,” said Lekhi.
The junior foreign minister also said that a copy of the Lok Sabha response could not have landed on the website of the lower house without the approval of the MEA.
“So who did this in the MEA? I have tagged everyone. I hope action will be taken soon. But when I told the foreign secretary to remove it from the website of the Lok Sabha, he cited procedures. But I said regardless of procedures, I have not signed that paper and the response is not mine,” Lekhi said.
Asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) position on the matter, Lekhi said, “The BJP has nothing to do with it, it’s the government.”
The Opposition, however, demanded clarification on the issue from the MEA, with the Shiv Sena’s Chaturvedi saying that if the response was forged, it was a “serious breach and violation of the rules”.
In the tweet below,
– Meenakshi Lekhi ji is denying&disassociating to a response attributed to her
– says has no idea who drafted this as response to a PQ since she didn’t sign it
– is she then claiming it is a forged response, if yes this is a serious breach and violation of… pic.twitter.com/4mNscaFhpA
— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) December 9, 2023
Indian Youth Congress president Srinivas B.V. also took a swipe at Lekhi, asking if “anyone else had used” her “login credentials”.
Madam Minister, Has anyone else used your Login Credentials? https://t.co/3t7wzH45NN
— Srinivas BV (@srinivasiyc) December 9, 2023