An emotionally-charged Sushma Swaraj, Minister for External Affairs, denied that she had recommended to the British Government that it help prepare travel documents for former IPL boss Lalit Modi, who lives in London and is being investigated for alleged money laundering.
With the Opposition demanding that she resign over the issue, Swaraj said: “the allegations are baseless and false. All I did was to give an oral message that if the British authorities choose to give travel documents to Lalit Modi in accordance with their law, it will not affect bilateral relations. The message was given purely on humanitarian grounds,” she said in a statement in the Lok Sabha.
Reading out portions from a document from the Portugal hospital that was treating Modi’s cancer-stricken wife saying it was necessary for Modi to be by her side during the risky treatment, Swaraj said: “If that is a sin, then I have sinned and am willing to accept any punishment decided by the House.”
Swaraj gave her statement in the absence of the Opposition, which is boycotting the House in protest against the Speaker’s five-day suspension of 25 Congress MPs for raising slogans and bringing placards to the House demanding the resignation of Swaraj and BJP Chief Ministers Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Earlier, the Minister began her statement by clarifying that she was not “taking advantage” of the absence of the Opposition, saying she had always wanted a discussion on the issue to get her point across but was not allowed to do so.
“Two weeks have gone by, and the third will end tomorrow. I don’t want the session to end without giving an explanation on each and every allegation against me,” she said, calling upon the Opposition to “produce a single piece of paper written by me showing that I have extended favours to Lalit Modi, and if I am proved wrong, I will face any penalty.”
Taking a dig at the Congress, she said “I want to ask Sonia ji , what she would have done faced with a similar situation?”, after reading out from a letter written by Modi’s ailing wife seeking his presence by her side at that trying hour.
“His wife has been suffering from cancer for the last 17 years and it is the 10th time it has recurred...I want to ask what Sonia Gandhi would have done had she been in my place. Would she have left her to die?” she said.
Incidentally, on Wednesday, a Mumbai court issued a non-bailable warrant against Modi on a case filed by the Enforcement Directorate.