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New Delhi, Jun 14 (PTI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was today at the centre of a major row over helping scam-tainted former IPL chief Lalit Modi to obtain British travel documents but found strong support from the government and the BJP which rejected opposition demands for her resignation over alleged "impropriety".
The genesis of the controversy was disclosure of emails showing that she had spoken to Indian-origin
British MP Keith Vaz and its High Commissioner here James Bevan favouring the grant of travel documents to Lalit Modi to go to Portugal, purportedly for his wife's cancer treatment in June last year.
Modi, who is
wanted in India, has made London his home since 2010 to avoid a probe for alleged foreign exchange regulation violations in the T20 cricket tournament held in South Africa in 2009. The previous
UPA government had revoked his passport and had pressed for his extradition.
According to British media which quoted leaked emails,
Vaz cited Swaraj's name to put pressure on UK's top immigration official to grant British travel papers to Lalit Modi, who subsequently got the documents in less than 24 hours.
Vaz also offered to help Swaraj's nephew Jyotirmay Kaushal to apply for a British law degree course, the report said.
After the reports surfaced, 63-year-old Swaraj said in a series of tweets that she had taken a "humanitarian view" and conveyed to the British High Commissioner that they should examine Modi's request as per their rules and
"if the British government chooses to give travel documents to Lalit Modi ? that will not spoil our bilateral relations".
Facing opposition attack, Swaraj said,
"What benefit did I pass on to Lalit Modi - that he could sign consent papers for surgery of his wife suffering from Cancer?... He was in London. After his wife's surgery, he came back to London. What is it that I changed?"
She also reportedly spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi explaining her position on the issue.
Opposition parties demanded her resignation, alleging grave impropriety on her part in helping a fugitive from law.
Congress questioned even the role of the Prime Minister as to whether her action had his "tacit" endorsement.
Contending that the Prime Minister's role was under a "cloud of suspicion", Congress posed 11 questions to him, including "what happens to transparency and non-corruption" promise made by him.
However, the government, the BJP as well as RSS, strongly "justified" Swaraj's action and rejected resignation demands.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP chief Amit Shah asserted that she had done no wrong and only acted on "humanitarian" grounds.
The government support was expressed after Home Minister Rajnath Singh met the Prime Minister.
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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s took to Twitter on Sunday to defend herself against the charge of acting improperly
in intervening with the British government to ensure the fugitive former IPL chief Lalit Modi was given travel documents on “humanitarian grounds” last year.
Lalit Modi came to London in 2010 as allegations of match-fixing and illegal betting related to IPL cricket tournament emerged.His Indian passport was revoked by the government in March 2011, Modi has denied any wrongdoing and says he left India for Britain because of death threats.Shortly after he received his UK travel documents last summer after a lengthy legal battle with the UK Home Office, but it was restored by the Delhi High Court in August last year.
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Ms. Swaraj put out her statement on the microblogging site Twitter, clarifying that she had pointed out that if British authorities were to give travel documents to Mr. Modi, who has sought the documents to be able to travel to Portugal for the treatment of his wife, India would not object.
“Sometime in July 2014,
Lalit Modi spoke to me that his wife was suffering from Cancer and her surgery was fixed for 4th August in Portugal. He told me that he had to be present in the hospital to sign the consent papers,” Ms. Swaraj said in her statement.
The External Affairs Minister admitted speaking to Mr. Vaz and said she told him “precisely” what she had told the British High Commissioner.
“I genuinely believe that in a situation such as this,
giving emergency travel documents to an Indian citizen cannot and should not spoil relations between the two countries. I may also state that only few days later,
Delhi High Court quashed the UPA Government’s order impounding Lalit Modi’s Passport on the ground that the said order was unconstitutional being violative of fundamental rights and he got his Passport back,” she said.
, Scam ka matlab bhi pata hai tujhay... Anyways, Sushma's response is sound good.
