New Delhi: Before making the statement in Parliament, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj explained she had been patiently waiting for an opportunity to speak on the issue in Parliament but got none.
“Not giving me an opportunity to respond to the charges is an injustice to me. People are asking how I did it, why I did it but first tell me what did I do? Did I offer him (Lalit Modi) any pecuniary benefits? Did I help him escape from India? Did I help him get travel documents?” she asked.
“His wife has been suffering from cancer for the last 17 years and it is the 10th time it has recurred... I want to ask what Sonia Gandhi would have done had she been in my place. Would she have left her to die,” Ms Swaraj asked, reading out a para from the hospital report on the health condition of Lalit Modi’s wife.
“If helping a woman is a crime, then I admit in this House that I have committed this crime. Let Parliament give any punishment it deems fit,” she said, making her statement amid thumping of desks by BJP MPs, while BJD, TRS and AIADMK members heard it without making any interruptions.
Ms Swaraj also recited a couplet from Ramcharit Manas, saying: “May be my stars are not in the right place.” She also referred to a media report that said the British home office had decided travel papers to Lalit Modi by acting according to its own rules.
