'Inquiry will reveal culprit': Meenakshi Lekhi calls out misattribution of Parliamentary reply on Hamas

After denying having endorsed a written reply to a parliamentary question on Israel’s demand for banning Hamas in India, Minister of State for External Affairs, Meenakshi Lekhi, on Saturday said that an inquiry would reveal "the culprit" responsible for wrongly attributing the response to her.

“Inquiry will reveal the culprit,” Lekhi replied on X (formerly Twitter) when a user drew her attention to the fact that the question and her written answer to it were uploaded on the official website of the Lok Sabha.

Lekhi earlier publicly dissociated herself from the answer to the question asked by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee’s president and Lok Sabha MP, K Sudhakaran, although it was attributed to her.

Sudhakaran had inquired whether the Government of India had proposed declaring Hamas a terrorist organisation in India. He also inquired whether the Government of Israel had requested India to designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

“Designation of an organisation as terrorist is covered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and declaring any organisation as terrorist is considered as per the provisions of the Act by the relevant government departments,” Lekhi was quoted as saying in a written reply to the unstarred question uploaded on the official website of the Lok Sabha.

After a journalist posted Sudhakaran's question and the answer attributed to Lekhi on X, the Minister of State for External Affairs replied: “You have been misinformed as I have not signed any paper with this question and this answer.” She tagged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with her post dissociating herself from the answer attributed to her.

Hamas militants killed nearly 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7. They also took several hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensives so far have killed thousands of people in the Gaza Strip.

Naor Gilon, Israel’s envoy to India, on October 26 said that New Delhi should also declare Hamas a terrorist organisation. “I think it is time for India to officially designate Hamas as a terror organisation. Many countries – EU, US, Canada, Australia – have already done that,” he said.

Ahead of the 15th anniversary of the November 26-28, 2008, terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the Government of Israel, on November 22 last, listed Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) based in Pakistan as a terrorist organisation. It was the LeT that had sent 10 terrorists to carry out the 26/11 carnage, resulting in the death of 166 people, including four Israelis.

Israel's decision to list LeT as a terrorist organisation was a subtle move to encourage India to reciprocate and take similar action against Hamas.

"We have filed the information needed... now it’s time for the Indian government to decide," Gilon said on November 22 when asked about India’s response to Israel’s request to declare Hamas as a terrorist organisation.