Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 7: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey has escalated his attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, demanding a full-fledged investigation into the latter’s foreign visits over the past decade. Drawing parallels with a past espionage controversy during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as Prime Minister, Dubey suggested that Rahul’s international engagements should be examined through a national security lens.

Taking to social media on Tuesday morning, Dubey alleged that Rahul Gandhi’s international tours lack transparency and warrant scrutiny by investigative agencies. He also revived a decades-old controversy, referencing how two Union Ministers and a top official were forced to resign in the 1980s after their names surfaced in an espionage case linked to foreign trips.

Specifically, Dubey pointed to the case involving Chandulal Chandrakar, K.P. Singh Deo, and M.S. Sanjivi Rao, who were part of Rajiv Gandhi’s Cabinet. Singh Deo, then Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies, had been on a study tour to the Far East — including countries like Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea — where his name allegedly appeared in a chargesheet alongside an accused individual named Ram Swarup.

Documents shared by Dubey on social media platform X include Singh Deo’s statement in Parliament, where he strongly denied any wrongdoing and claimed the allegations were baseless. However, he had resigned from his post following the controversy, a resignation that was immediately accepted by the then Prime Minister.

Using this historical incident as precedent, Dubey demanded a probe into Rahul Gandhi’s frequent overseas tours. He has previously gone as far as to request the confiscation of Rahul’s passport, accusing him of “humiliating India on foreign soil.”

Rahul Gandhi is currently touring four South American nations, where he has been interacting with university students, political leaders, and members of the Indian diaspora. During one such interaction at EIA University, Rahul accused the BJP-led NDA government of orchestrating a “wholesale attack on Indian democracy,” a statement that has triggered sharp reactions from BJP leaders.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also weighed in, slamming Rahul for “spewing venom against India while abroad” and accusing him of repeatedly undermining the nation’s global image.

With political temperatures rising ahead of the 2024 elections, Dubey’s demand adds to the BJP’s larger narrative that Rahul Gandhi’s international remarks are politically motivated and potentially damaging to India’s interests.