The Supreme Court earlier today wondered how can a political party sign an agreement with a political outfit of a foreign country, reports TimesNow. The top court was hearing a plea seeking National Investigation Agency (NIA) or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2008 between Indian National Congress (INC) and the Communist Party of China (CPC).
In June, a PIL was been filed in the SC demanding a NIA probe into the MoU between Congress party and the Chinese Communist Party in 2008. Though it was known that such a pact was indeed signed, the details of the pact have been kept a secret till date by the Congress. Savio Rodrigues, Editor-in-Chief of GoaChronicle and Supreme Court Advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha are the petitioners who have demanded a NIA probe into the Congress-CCP pact.
The petition was filed against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and few others over the controversial MOU and asked the SC to direc the NIA or CBI to probe into the details of the MOU and divulge the details to the people of the country.
The SC however asked the petitioners to approach the high court observing that the issue is very serious and have not heard about a political party entering into an agreement with a foreign country. The petitioners had submitted that despite India having hostile relations with China, the INC had signed an agreement when it was leading the coalition government.
The petition said, “Nation’s security cannot and shouldn’t be compromised by any one. Therefore, this petition has been moved under Article 32 of the Constitution of Bharat, which seeks to bring transparency and clarity regarding the agreement signed between the Respondent No. 1 (INC) and the Communist Party of China which is also the de-facto government of People’s Republic of China.”
Savio Rodrigues has said that despite requesting the INC to make the details of the MOU public, the party had not heeded to the same. This gave raise to doubts due to which he had to approach the SC. “The details are very crucial. It is a national security issue and the truth must be told. We had put out that question to Rahul Gandhi in an editorial (in Goa Chronicle) that I had written as well as on a TV channel but he has given no answer to the people of India,” Rodrigues had said.
The available details in public show that the MoU was signed by the then Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on behalf of the party, and on the Chinese side it was signed by none other than Xi Jinping himself, who was then the Chinese vice-president and standing committee member of the CPC’s politburo. The MoU was signed in the presence of his mother and party president Sonia Gandhi. Before the signing of the MoU, the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi had held a long meeting with Xi and other senior leaders of the Communist Party of China to discuss issues of mutual interest.
In June this year it was revealed that it the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi had received lakhs of rupees as donation from Embassy of China and Government of China. Incidentally, former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, former Finance Ministe P Chidambaram, Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders are on the board of the foundation.
