Opposition to move privilege motions against Swaraj in RS

Opposition parties will on Friday move privilege motions against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the Rajya Sabha for allegedly misinforming the House on India's foreign policy.

According to sources, leaders of different political parties will move two privilege motions against Swaraj for allegedly "providing wrong information on the Bandung Asia Africa relations conference and about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lahore visit in 2015".

The sources said that while Swaraj claimed that she had not delivered any speech in the Bandung conference, the opposition parties have downloaded a purported speech and will attach it as proof.

The second privilege is for allegedly "misinforming the House on Modi's 2015 Lahore visit, claiming that there was no terror incident after that".

The opposition, however, seeks to differ saying the Pathankot terror attack happened immediately after Modi's visit and there were five other incidents after that too.

Incidentally, the issue was raised in the Rajya Sabha today with Congress leader Anand Sharma and Trinamool leader Derek O' Brien saying that Swaraj had delivered her speech at Bandung despite claims to the contrary.

Sharma alleged that first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's name had been omitted from the address delivered by Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh at the 60th anniversary of Bandung Conference.

Rejecting this charge, Swaraj said India did not address the Bandung Conference as only three Heads of states spoke there.

She said speech which Sharma was referring to was delivered at another Afro-Asian Conference held separately.

Nehru was one of the founder members of the Bandung Conference founded in 1955.

Swaraj added that she had attended the Bandung Conference and saw large pictures of Nehru at the venue, which made her feel proud.

The external affairs minister also slammed the Congress for alleging that the Modi government had dumped the Palestine issue due to growing proximity with Israel.

She said while the Congress has problems over India's growing ties with Israel, the Palestinians have no such complaints.

In fact, Palestinians are requesting India to use its good ties with Israel to resolve its dispute with the Jewish nation, she said.

The minister asserted that India will never let down the cause of Palestine. "It is our commitment," she said.

To the opposition's contention that India has become lackey of the US, Swaraj said it is only Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has got the guts to have plain speak with US President Donald Trump.

She was referring to Modi's strong statement after Trump had alleged that India was seeking billions and billions of dollars in the name of Paris climate change deal, from which the US walked out.

Modi had said that India's respect for climate was thousands of years old.

Swaraj also dismissed contention that number of H1B visas issued by the US have reduced under the Modi government. Citing data, she said, in turn, the quota of such visas had been decreased during the previous UPA government.