PIL In Delhi High Court Against Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal For Allegedly Making ‘Misleading Statements’ Over Loan Waiver Of Industrialists By Centre

A public interest litigation has been moved in the Delhi High Court against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly making “false and misleading statements” accusing the Union Government of waiving off loans of various industrialists during the year 2020-21.

The matter is likely to be listed tomorrow.

The plea has been moved by one Surjit Singh Yadav, a farmer and social worker by profession. It has been filed through Advocate Barun Kumar Sinha.

Yadav has sought directions on news channels News 24 and NDTV to remove the allegedly false and misleading statements made by the two political leaders from their electronic media platforms.

A direction is also sought upon Central Bureau of Investigation to register a complaint, investigate and prosecute the two politicians for making such statements “with the intent to damage the image and credibility of the country.”

“That the Petitioner came across news items in electronic and print media where news related to waiving of loan to the tune of Rs.11 Lakhs Crore had been broadcasted on NDTV in the year 2021. Similarly, News24 channel had published more than two years ago that loans of 50 loan defaulters have been waived off and that loan amount was to the tune of Rs.68,000 Crore which included the name of Mehul Choksi,” the plea reads.

Yadav has contended that both Gandhi and Kejriwal have attempted to create “negative image of the Union Government” which has resulted in creating a “negative image of the nation itself.”

“This may have negative repercussions for the nation like foreign investment getting affected, tourism getting hampered and promotion of anarchy in the nation,” the plea adds.

It has been submitted that Yadav had sent a legal notice to the politicians and news channels in August last year seeking apology and removal of the content. However, no apology was received.

“It is well known that as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Write off is not same as Waive off but writing off loans has been shown by Respondent no.2 to 5 as waiving off loans. This deliberate twist to the actual meaning of writing off loans by these politicians and media outlets had created confusion in the minds of readers / viewers including in the mind of the Petitioner, thereby, resulting in the image of central government getting downgraded,” the plea reads.

Title: SURJIT SINGH YADAV v. Union of India & Ors