NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday rejected in Lok Sabha the claim by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury that he sat on Rabindranath Tagore’s chair during his visit to Visva Bharati.
The minister said the record pertaining to this should be set right, as he produced documents to support his statement and sought Speaker Om Birla‘s permission to lay them before the House.
“I have a letter from Visva Bharati’s Vice Chancellor where I have sought clarification from him and tell me after analysing the photos and videos whether I sat (on Tagore’s chair) there or not.
“He has very clearly stated that nothing of this sort has happened. The reference to the place I sat is a window and anyone can sit there,” Shah said.
Shah said that “a former president of the country, (another former President) Pranab Mukherjee, (former Prime Minister) Rajiv Gandhi…and even I sat there (window)”.
“And when Bangladesh’s Prime Minister paid a visit, she also sat at the same place and penned her comments,” Shah said.
Chowdhury had on Monday claimed in the House that Shah during his visit to Shantiniketan sat on Tagore’s chair.
Shah said before speaking in the House, members should ascertain the facts.
“It hurts the dignity of the House if something lifted from the social media is stated here,” he said, adding the member who made the remarks committed the mistake due to the background of his party.
“I did not sit there. But Jawaharlal Nehru sat on the same seat where Tagore used to sit. This is on record and the second photograph is of Rajiv Gandhi who is sitting on Tagore’s sofa having tea,” Shah said with photographs to support his rebuttal.
Shah also rejected certain claims made by Chowdhury against BJP president J P Nadda. He said since Nadda is not a member of the House, he should not have been named.
In Video:Amit Shah hits back at Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury over claims of disrespecting Rabindranath Tagore