New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy threatened to file a lawsuit on Saturday against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, claiming they were protecting Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.
Swamy has long demanded that Gandhi's Indian citizenship be revoked because Gandhi founded a company in London called BackOps and obtained British citizenship in 2003, Free Press Journal reported.
Swamy questioned in a post on X why Rahul Gandhi is being protected by HM Shah and PM Modi despite his alleged foreign citizenship. He wrote, "Why is Modi and Shah protecting Rahul Gandhi when he is a foreign citizen having acquired British Citizenship in 2003, and started a company called Back Opps in London? His Indian citizenship is invalid. If Modi continues to protect, I will have to file a case against him (Modi and Shah)."
A copy of the 2019 complaint Swamy filed with the Ministry of External Affairs against Rahul Gandhi was also shared. Reports state that the Centre sent Rahul Gandhi a notice after Swamy's complaint asking him to respond to the allegations made by Swamy.
He also published an alleged copy of Rahul Gandhi's annual return that was submitted to the British government in a different post. Since 2015, Swamy has demanded that Rahul Gandhi's Indian citizenship be revoked.
A petition contesting Rahul Gandhi's citizenship was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2015, stating that it was "too frivolous and an attempt to start a roving inquiry." The top court once more rejected a case in May 2019 that was submitted by two residents of Delhi challenging Rahul Gandhi's citizenship. In rejecting the petition, the court stated, "If some company, in some form, mentions his nationality as British, does he become a British citizen?”