Congress has opposed a plea against the use of acronym INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) by the newly formed alliance of opposition political parties before the Delhi High Court.
Congress in its affidavit said that the plea is premised solely on the prejudices and presumptions. It added that the plea is politically motivated and frivolous in nature. The Congress maintained that what is starkly apparent from the contents of the petition is that the absence of any examples or cases that substantiate the frivolous allegations levelled by the petitioner against the answering respondent or its alliance respondents.
The plea has been filed by businessman Girish Bharadwaj. The Congress has opposed the plea claiming that Girish has deliberately suppressed the fact that he is closely associated with Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The affidavit asserted that the pleadings in the PIL make it amply evident that one of the motives of filing the same is to bolster Bharadwaj’s political affiliation.
The affidavit stated that it is relevant to mention that Vishwa Hindu Parishad is an Indian Right- Wing Organisation which is a part of the Sangh Parivar and affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, whose political arm is the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). Furthermore, it said that the petition is not only politically motivated but has been filed under the garb of a public interest litigation with an aim to advance the political stratagems of Bhardwaj.
Mentioning that according to the plea use of INDIA as the name of the political alliance is prohibited or barred under Sections 2 and 3 of the Emblem Act, the Congress pointed out the petitioner has failed to make out any violation of the Emblem Act with the use of INDIA even while reproducing the said provisions.
The Congress has also said that Bhardwaj has failed to provide any evidence of the supposed harms that have allegedly accrued the alliance being INDIA, nor has he been able to highlight any provision in the law which stops the opposition parties from adopting the said name and acronym. The matter is scheduled for hearing tomorrow.