The central government confirmed to the Allahabad High Court on Monday that it has received a representation questioning the citizenship of Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, under allegations of holding British citizenship. This admission came during a hearing presided over by Justices Rajan Roy and Om Prakash Shukla of the Lucknow bench.
Deputy Solicitor General of India, SB Pandey, represented the central government and requested additional time to provide detailed information on what actions have been taken regarding the representation initiated by S Vignesh Shishir, a BJP worker from Karnataka. Shishir has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) claiming inaction by the government in this serious matter.
The hearing, which has attracted considerable public and media attention, revealed that Shishir claims to have accessed confidential emails from the UK government. According to him, these emails confirm the UK government possesses records of Gandhi’s British nationality but has withheld further details, citing them as ‘personal data’ protected under the General Data Protection Regulations of the UK’s Data Protection Act, 2018.
In his PIL, Shishir also demands a CBI inquiry into the issue and criticizes the central government for not acting on his statutory representation under Section 9(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which he filed to press the government to investigate Gandhi’s citizenship status.
