Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi denies signing paper on question about Hamas in Parliament

The BJP MP said that inquiry will show the culprit as her name was mentioned in the response uploaded on Parliament website.

Dec 9, 2023 - 14:30

Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi denies signing paper on question about Hamas in Parliament

Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi on Saturday denied that she has signed a paper with a question regarding declaring Palestinian militant group Hamas as a terrorist organisation in India.

This comes after journalist Sidhant Sibal on Friday posted the official response from Parliament website mentioning Lekhi’s name on social media platform X. Lekhi had responded to Sibal’s tweet on Saturday saying: “You have been misinformed as I have not signed any paper with this question and this answer.”

You have been misinformed as I have not signed any paper with this question and this answer @DrSJaishankar @PMOIndia https://t.co/4xUWjROeNH— Meenakashi Lekhi (@M_Lekhi) December 8, 2023

However, the question, available on Parliament website, was posed by Congress Lok Sabha MP K Sudhakaran. The MP had asked the government whether it has any proposal to declare Hamas as a terrorist organisation in India.

The legislator had also asked whether the government of Israel has raised any demand to the Indian authorities to declare Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

In her response as posted on Parliament website, the union minister of state for external affairs and culture said that designation of an organisation as terrorist is covered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. She added that declaring any organisation as terrorist group is considered under...