JOIN USCongress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday expressed his regret before the Supreme Court for having attributed his Rafale comments to the top court, saying those were made in rhetorical flourish in Hindi in the heat of hectic political campaigning on the basis of general perception, without having seen, read or analysed the judgement.
Maintaining that he had no intention to bring the court into the political arena, he claimed his "political opponents had tried to project that he had deliberately and intentionally suggested that this court had said 'Chowkidar Chor Hai'!"
Rahul filed his response after the apex court sought his explanation on a contempt petition filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi. She claimed Rahul had incorrectly attributed to the top court that it had said "Chowkidar Narendra Modi Chor hai" (Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a thief) in its Rafale judgement of April 10.
The court had asked him to clarify, saying it had never made any such statement attributed to the court.
In his response, Rahul said, "My statement was made in the heat of political campaigning. It has been used (and misused) by my political opponents to project that I had deliberately and intentionally suggested that this court had said 'Chowkidar Chor Hai!' Nothing could be farther from my mind."
"It is also clear that no court would ever do that and hence the unfortunate references (for which I express regret) to the court order and to the political slogan in juxtaposition in the same breath in the heat of political campaigning ought not to be construed as suggesting that the court had given any finding or conclusion on that issue," he said.
Rahul also undertook that he will not attribute any views, observations or findings to the court in political addresses to the media and in public speeches, unless such views, observations or findings are recorded by the court.
However, he pointed out after the apex court's judgement of December 14, 2018, multiple statements were made by several ministers of the ruling party including Prime Minister Narendra Modi wherein they claimed the top court had given the government a clean chit.
He said his statement had been made in a purely politically context, to counter the misinformation campaign by senior BJP functionaries.