New Delhi: Upping the ante on the issue of Delhi Police officials visiting Rahul Gandhi’s residence, Congress is planning to raise the issue in Parliament on Monday. Calling it a case of political espionage, the party has demanded an explanation from Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress along with other opposition parties came down heavily on the Central government bringing it in the dock for alleged snooping of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
Raking up the issue in the question hour of Parliament, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad claimed that the move is against the democratic values and liberties of the nation. “This has never happened before. How does a size of shoe matter? How do his habits matter? Who are his friends, his aides, their numbers, this is beyond my understanding,” he said.
Azad even questioned the Centre by asking if this is the government’s way of scaring politicians for raising issues inside and outside the Parliament “Is this kind of snooping being done to scare political parties,” he said. India is not a police state. It is not like Pakistan that anyone will be put inside by the general,” he added.
Forced to reply to the allegations, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the Congress was “making a mountain of something that is not even a mole. He claimed that it was not incident of snooping as that does not involve taking details but is done secretively.
He said that VIPs in the past have also been profiled for security purposes. “When a former PM was assassinated, his identification was done with his shoe size. It has relevance in security. In 1999, the performa was changed, it is not about NDA and UPA,” he said. Even Vajpayee was profiled. It was done on 9th June, 2011. He is an important VIP. Sonia Gandhi profiling was done in October 2004, even in 2012 during their own rule, he claimed.
Bureau Report
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