Congress Wants BJP MP Nishikant Dubey's 'Chinese' Remark About Rahul Gandhi Expunged From Parliament Records

In a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House, Chowdhury asserted that Dubey's comments should be removed from the official parliamentary records. 

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Congress party leader in the Lok Sabha, has formally called for the expungement of remarks made by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. The demand centres on Dubey's statement that connected Rahul Gandhi, who is recently reinstated as Lok Sabha MP, to a reported Chinese influence campaign unearthed by a recent investigation by The New York Times (NYT). In a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House, Chowdhury asserted that Dubey's comments should be removed from the official parliamentary records. 

"He proceeded to level libellous and defamatory charges against the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi, a member of the house, without having given any notice, let alone taken the permission of the chair," the Congress letter read.

An NYT investigation, published on August 5, unearthed a "lavishly funded influence campaign that defends China and pushes its propaganda" across the world and that has linkages even in India. The NYT report identifies American millionaire Neville Roy Singham as a key financier behind the initiative, with alleged involvement in funding the news platform NewsClick.

Nishikant Dubey, referencing The New York Times article during his address in the Lok Sabha, expressed concerns about potential Chinese financial influence infiltrating Indian media outlets. Dubey also sought to draw a connection between the influence campaign and Rahul Gandhi.

"Chinese goods are being sold at Rahul Gandhi's nafrat ki dukaan (hate shop)…The New York Times has published an interesting report…About ₹38 crores have been received by organisations such as NewsClick," Dubey stated while citing the findings of The New York Times report.

Few In India Became Their 'Salesmen': I&B Minister

Meanwhile, I&B Minister Anurag Thakur launched a full-scale direct attack on the Congress party. He alleged that Congress and other parties came to NewsClick support when they were investigated by the central agencies.   

"In 2021, we exposed NewsClick as to how foreign propaganda is against India. In this anti-India campaign, Congress and other opposition parties came in their support... Chinese companies were funding NewsClick through Mogul Neville Roy Singham but their salesmen were some people from India, who came in their support when action was taken against them," the minister said on Monday during a press conference.