Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday tendered an unconditional apology for attributing 'Chowkidar Chor Hai' slogan against Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Supreme Court. Gandhi filed an affidavit making it clear that what he said was 'unintentional' and 'inadvertent'.
The affidavit came ahead of the hearing on the contempt petition filed against him by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi on Friday. His earlier affidavit was considered unsatisfactory by the Court as the word 'regret' was given in parenthesis giving an impression to the Court that the apology was not serious. Lekhi's counsel senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi pointed out that Gandhi's affidavit lacked remorse as an apology must be stated upfront.
In his crisp three-page affidavit filed by lawyer Sunil Fernandes, Gandhi said, "The deponent (Gandhi) unconditionally apologises for the wrongful attributions to this Court...any such attributions were entirely unintentional, non-wilful, and inadvertent."
Gandhi asked the Court to accept his apology and close the contempt proceedings against him. The contempt petition against him was initiated following his April 10 remark, when the SC passed an order allowing certain classified documents to be relied by the petitioners who were seeking review of the December 14, 2018 decision of the SC turning down demands for an independent probe into the purchase deal of 36 Rafale fighter jets.
Gandhi commented that by this ruling even the SC has said that "Chowkidar Chor hai", linking the SC proceeding with his political campaign to attack PM Modi.
Meanwhile, taking a dig at Gandhi at a rally in New Delhi, PM Modi said that he is confused by the Congress chief's definition of "love". The PM spelled out more than 20 alleged abuses, which, he said were used against him by Congress leaders.
Finding his earlier affidavit wholly unsatisfactory, the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph on April 30 remarked, "Whatever is your political stand, keep it to yourself. We are not concerned with it.
We are only concerned with your statement being attributed to the Court."
The Congress chief's lawyer had accepted that he committed three errors – stating what was never said by Court, mixing what was said by Court with his political slogan of 'Chowkidar Chor hai', and knowing fully well that the words attributed to Court in his statement were never spoken by any Court or judicial forum.
In his affidavit, Gandhi reiterated that he holds the Court in the highest esteem. Gandhi stated that "he never sought or intended to, directly or indirectly, commit any act that interferes with the process of administration of justice".
What angered the bench in the earlier hearings was the fact that instead of admitting his mistake, Gandhi sought to justify it drawing parallel with similar comments by other political leaders.
(With Agency Inputs)
The Price of Misquoting
Rahul faced contempt for ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ remark made on April 10
- Congress chief’s lawyer Sunil Fernandes accepted that his client had committed three errors
- Gandhi’s 3-page affidavit offered unconditional apology to SC for his ‘Chowkidar chor hai’ jibe against PM
- Advocate Mukul Rohatgi said Gandhi’s affidavit lacked remorse as an apology must be upfront
Love in the Time of Politics
- PM Narendra Modi questioned the meaning of love in Rahul Gandhi’s ‘love dictionary’ at a rally in Delhi
- PM Modi listed more than 20 alleged abuses used by various Congress leaders against him after he became PM
