New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday rejected a privilege notice against Union Home Minister Amit Shah after the minister cited a 1948 government press release to authenticate his statement that a Congress leader was part of the management of the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.
In his ruling on Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh’s breach of privilege notice, Dhankhar said Shah did not commit any “transgression” and that his statements during a debate earlier this week were in “absolute adherence to truth”.
He went on to state that the breach of privilege was invoked in haste to get traction in the media and asked the House Ethics Committee to lay down fresh guidelines on MP’s conduct on issues such as releasing communication with the chair or notices served.
Ramesh had moved the notice against Shah for “casting aspersions” on Congress Parliamentary Party head Sonia Gandhi while replying to a debate on the Disaster Management Bill, 2024 in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Dhankhar said when some members objected to his assertion, Shah agreed to authenticate his statement.
The Home Minister, he said, has backed his statement by producing a January 24, 1948 press release issued by the government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) that announced the then prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s announcement of setting up of PMNRF.
The fund “will be managed by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the President of the Indian National Congress, the Deputy Prime Minister and there are some other Members,” Dhankhar said quoting from the release produced in support of Shah’s statement.
“I have carefully gone through the debate and what the Union Home Minister asserted… The Home Minister focused in categorical terms that this was the practice,” he said. “I find there has been no transgression. There has been absolute adherence to truth which is vindicated by a document that is available to the Hon’ble Members and that being the situation, I cannot persuade myself to accord any acceptance to this Notice of Question of Privilege against Shri Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs.”
Ramesh had on Wednesday moved a privilege motion against Shah for making “unfounded allegations” against Sonia Gandhi with a “premeditated motive to malign” her.
“Even though the Home Minister did not take the name of Sonia Gandhi, he had categorically by implication referred to her and imputed motive to her. The Home Minister had made unfounded allegations against Sonia Gandhi with a premeditated motive to malign her reputation. The Home Minister’s statement is blatantly false and defamatory,” he had said in the letter.
Ramesh quoted a statement Shah made on Tuesday while replying to a debate on the Disaster Management Bill, 2024 in Rajya Sabha.
“The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund was established during the Congress’ rule, and the PM-CARES Fund was established during PM Narendra Modi and the NDA’s rule. Sir, during Congress’ rule only one family used to control the country,” Shah had said.
Without naming anyone, Shah claimed that a Congress leader was part of the PM’s relief fund at the time.
Dhankhar said breach of privilege is a serious matter.
“I have declined with a deep sense of anguish and pain that we rushed to invoke breach of privilege. We rush to the media, give it traction, try to tarnish image. And I have said on a number of occasions, this House will not be a platform to ruin reputations of people,” he said.
He then referred to the formation of the Ethics Committee in 1998 and it under SB Chauhan in a report stating that members must conduct themselves in a manner that upholds the dignity of Parliament and preserves their personal credibility. Also, members must bear the responsibility of maintaining exemplary standards of morality, dignity, decorum and values in their public conduct.
“I am tasking the Ethics Committee to look into SB Chauhan Committee report on ethics and take note of the intervening situations mostly brought about by technological developments and social media and evolve our mechanism, fresh guidelines for members for adherence,” he added.
