NEW DELHI: India’s top court on Thursday threw out a petition seeking tobar Rahul Gandhi from contesting the ongoing general election over claimshe is secretly British.
The 48-year-old scion of India’s Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty is the mainchallenger to Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who isseeking a second term in office after storming to power in 2014.
Opponents of Gandhi accuse him of lying about his nationality and allegethat he holds British citizenship, citing annual returns filed by anow-defunct British company in which he was once a director.India does not allow dual nationality and only Indian citizens can contestelections.
The Supreme Court called the petition frivolous and an attempt to start a“roving inquiry” into the long-standing claims against Gandhi.“Just because a paper notes his citizenship as British, does he become aBritish citizen?” a bench headed by chief justice Ranjan Gogoi said.
Gandhi, whose mother Sonia is Italian-born and whose father wasassassinated former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, has always denied holdingforeign citizenship.
India’s home ministry, controlled by Modi’s government, last month shot offa letter to Gandhi asking him to come clean on the issue.
The court’s ruling comes as in the final days of the country’s marathonseven-week election, in which 900 million voters will decide the leader ofthe world’s biggest democracy. The final day of voting is on May 19 withresults due four days later.
Gandhi and Modi have traded almost daily barbs over corruption, nationalsecurity and the economy during the campaign.
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At a public rally in Delhi on Wednesday, Modi, 68, accused the Gandhifamily of using an India Navy warship as its “personal taxi” when Rahul’sfather Rajiv was the prime minister.
“Rajiv Gandhi was accompanied by his in-laws who had come from Italy.Question is whether the security of the country was not compromised bytaking foreigners onboard a warship,” Modi said.
Rajiv was assassinated in 1991 by a Tamil suicide bomber when Rahul was 20.Modi last week called the former prime minister “corrupt” while on thecampaign trail.
“Your Karma awaits you. Projecting your inner beliefs about yourself ontomy father won’t protect you. All my love and a huge hug,” Gandhi tweeted inresponse.
The penultimate round of India’s election takes place on Sunday withcitizens in the capital New Delhi among those casting ballots. -APP/AFP
