A complaint from BJP MP Subramanian Swamy says the Congress president’s nationality was declared as British in documents related to a U.K. company that he was a director in. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to provide the “factual position” on his citizenship within two weeks, acting on a complaint by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy. Dr. Swamy has alleged that Mr. Gandhi had declared his nationality as “British” in documents related to a United Kingdom-based company of which he was a director. Writing to Mr. Gandhi on Monday, the MHA said it had received a representation from Dr. Swamy that a company, Backops Limited, was registered in the U.K. in 2003 and Mr. Gandhi was a director and secretary of it. The complaint said the annual returns filed on October 10, 2005 and October 31, 2006 showed Mr. Gandhi’s nationality as British, the MHA wrote. “You are requested to intimate the factual position to this Ministry within a fortnight of receipt of this communication,” the letter reads. According to an MHA official, the complaint dates back to 2015. Asked by reporters about the timing of the notice, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Ministries were expected to act when an MP wrote to them, and this was a part of the “process”. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the question of Mr. Gandhi’s citizenship had been settled by the Supreme Court, which dismissed a petition. The Congress added that the Narendra Modi government had been silent on allegations about Mr. Gandhi's citizenship for the past four years because it knew the truth. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lost the plot. After four phases of election, it is clear that Modi ji and BJP are hurtling at imminent defeat at a breakneck speed. Consequently, they seek to manufacture one malicious allegation each day. These are rehashed allegations. They had made similar allegations in 2015 too,” Mr. Surjewala said at press conference here. The allegation is based on one document — the certificate of incorporation for a company called Backops Limited, of which Mr, Gandhi was a director. The Congress released the original document on Tuesday, showing that Mr. Gandhi is an Indian. “He is an Indian by birth and everyone knows about the sacrifices made by three generations of his family,” he added. The Congress also said the question has been settled by Supreme Court. A petition on the issue came for hearing on November 30 and it was dismissed. “Is MHA bigger than the Supreme Court? Does the BJP not accept the decision of the highest court of the country,” Mr. Surjewala asked. He insisted that such fake allegations will no longer be enough to distract the voters who are asking the Narendra Modi government about lost jobs and the state of economy. “We will give a befitting reply,” Mr. Surjewala said, referring to the MHA notice. Priyanka reacts Reacting to the issue, Mr. Gandhi’s sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “The whole of India knows that Rahul Gandhi is Indian. He was born and brought up in front of them. What rubbish is this!” Writing to Mr. Gandhi on Monday, MHA director (citizenship) B.C. Joshi said the complaint by Mr Swamy added that in the application for dissolution of the company, dated February 12, 2009, Mr. Gandhi’s nationality was again declared to be British.<doc-sep>NEW DELHI : Congress president Rahul Gandhi was on Tuesday sent a notice by the home ministry seeking a response to charges that he held “British" citizenship , angering the party in the middle of campaign hustings. The move caused a political storm, coming as it does just days before Gandhi’s constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh goes to polls on Monday, and despite his affidavit being given the clean chit by Amethi’s returning officer last week. Gandhi was sent a letter by the director of citizenship at the ministry, seeking his response on a complaint filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy. According to the letter, Gandhi reportedly mentioned his citizenship as British in the annual returns of a company filed in 2005 and 2006. The centre has now sought his response. While the BJP has demanded a response from Gandhi, Union home minister Rajnath Singh downplayed the matter stating that “When a member of Parliament writes to any ministry, action required on their query is taken. It is not a big development, it is normal process." Even though the returning officer of Amethi last week, set aside all objections on Gandhi’s nomination papers and deemed his affidavit valid after scrutinizing allegations of discrepancies over his citizenship and other issues, the centre has given Gandhi a fortnight to respond. “The MHA has requested Rahul Gandhi to intimate factual position on the matter. It has given him 15 days to respond to the notice. And we are now waiting for his response," said a senior MHA official. The Congress party reacted with anger at the allegation. “The whole of India knows that Rahul Gandhi is an Indian. People have seen him being born and grow up in India. What nonsense is this," sister Priyanka Gandhi said in Varanasi. “(Narendra) Modi has no answer for unemployment, Modiji has no answer for agrarian distress and black money, that’s why he is resorting to fake narrative through his government’s notices to divert attention," said senior Congress party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. Surjewala added that the matter had been raised back in 2015 as well when Gandhi’s citizenship had come into question and it “was settled by the Supreme Court, which dismissed the petition on the issue on 30 November that year." The ruling BJP also hit out at the Congress president, with party spokesperson Sambit Patra saying “if you create a confusion you have to clarify." In 2016, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had forwarded to the parliamentary ethics committee, headed by veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani, Swamy’s “complaint of ethical misconduct" against Gandhi that he had accessed documents in which the Congress leader had called himself “British". In his reply to the ethics committee on the allegations of British citizenship, Gandhi had said he had never “sought or acquired British citizenship" and that his “identity is that of an Indian". Gandhi also questioned the committee’s decision to look into a “complaint that is not in order", claiming it was “an endeavour to malign" him. Press Trust of India contributed to this story. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now! ! Topics<doc-sep>MHA issues notice to Rahul Gandhi over his citizenship NEW DELHI: The ministry of home affairs on Tuesday asked Congress president to clarify his position on his nationality after BJP MP Subramanian Swamy cited a British company's document to allege that Rahul Gandhi is a British national.In a letter addressed to the Congress chief, the ministry said that it has been brought to its notice that Rahul, in an annual return filed by company Backops Limited, has declared his nationality as British.The Home Ministry said Swamy's letter also mentioned that in the British company's annual returns filed on October 10, 2005 and October 31, 2006, Rahul's date of birth has been given as June 19, 1970, and had declared his nationality as British.The ministry sought Rahul's response within a fortnight. "You are requested to intimate the factual position in the matter to this ministry within a fortnight of the receipt of this communication," the ministry wrote.However, union home minister Rajnath Singh downplayed the notice as a part of "routine procedure" . "When a member of Parliament writes to any ministry, action required on their query is taken. It is not a big development, it is normal process," Singh was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.Earlier this month, the Bharatiya Janata Party had first raised the issue of Rahul's citizenship, citing the same documents.The BJP had alleged that in a company named Backops Limited, which is registered in London, Rahul served as a director. "The official documents submitted by this company to the British authorities are in the form of a memorandum of associations and annual returns period ending August 21, 2005. So documents submitted to the British authorities in 2005 clearly showed that he was a citizen of the UK. And if he was a citizen of the UK, then he would have automatically lost the Indian citizenship because Citizenship Act 1955 clearly states that any citizen of India acquiring citizenship of any other country automatically forfeits citizenship of India," the party said.<doc-sep>
New Delhi: The home ministry has issued a notice to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, asking him to explain his "factual position" over a complaint filed by BJP parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy that he holds British citizenship. The Congress chief has been given a fortnight to respond to the notice. The government notice comes right in the middle of a bitterly contested Lok Sabha election, in which Rahul Gandhi is contesting from two seats – Amethi in UP and Wayanad in Kerala. Earlier this month, the returning officer of Amethi had declared that the Congress president’s nomination papers were valid after a complaint was made that there were several discrepancies in his affidavit, including details about his citizenship. The complainants, like Swamy, had alleged that Gandhi had declared himself as a British citizen in company filings made in the United Kingdom. "I am directed to say that this ministry has received a representation from Dr Subramanian Swamy, in which it has been brought out that a company named Backops Limited was registered in the United Kingdom in the year 2003, with address 51 Southgate Street, Winchester, Hampshire SO23 9EH and that you were one of the directors and secretary of the said company," the letter signed by BC Joshi, director, Citizenship, in the home ministry reads. It further stated that in the annual returns filed by the company, Gandhi’s date of birth has been given as June 19, 1970 and his nationality as British. The letter said that the dissolution application filed by the company, dated February 17, 2009, also referred to Rahul Gandhi's nationality as British. The Congress has rubbished the claim and dubbed the notice an attempt to divert attention from real issues. "The entire world knows Rahul Gandhi is an Indian citizen by birth. Modi ji has no answer for unemployment, Modi ji has no answer for agrarian distress and black money, that's why he's resorting to fake narrative through his government's notices to divert attention," party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. Swamy had repeatedly accused Gandhi of holding British citizenship. He had first raised the allegation first in 2015. Rahul Gandhi has accused the BJP leader of misleading the nation and challenged him to substantiate his claims with documentary proof.