Rahul Gandhi Has to Prove His Innocence, Says BJP's Subramanian Swamy

Mumbai: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was evading questions after identifying himself as a British citizen on legal papers of a company in the UK in 2005 and 2006, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said today.

"I have obtained documents which show that Rahul Gandhi had claimed to be a British national before the company law authorities there for setting up a company," Mr Swamy told reporters in Mumbai.

"Rahul Gandhi has confessed that he is a British citizen. The onus to prove he is innocent is on Rahul Gandhi," he said.

"How can one believe that for five years Rahul continued making a typing mistake," Mr  Swamy said on Congress party's stand that the mention of being a British national in the documents may have been a typing error.
 The 45-year-old Congress leader was the director and secretary of the company, according to the documents, that Mr Swamy said he had extracted from the company law authorities of Britain.

The documents released by Mr Swamy show that Mr Gandhi had called himself "British" on the annual returns of a UK-based firm "Backops Limited". Rejecting the allegations, the Congress had released a certificate of incorporation of the company that mentioned his nationality as Indian.

The discrepancy between the document and the British government's records was on account of a typographical error, the Congress said.

Mr Gandhi has rejected allegations of impropriety and has dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order an inquiry against him and jail him if he is proven guilty. He accused PM Modi of using his 'chamchas' (cronies) to throw mud at him like the RSS and BJP did against his parents and grandmother Indira Gandhi.

"I have also been labelled as a 'chamcha'," Mr Swamy said today. "I am happy he (Rahul) called me a chamcha. As in Congress, chamcha is a very high post. I feel that being called a chamcha is a great compliment," Mr Swamy said.