Neither Sonia nor Rahul eligible to be PM of India: Dr. Subramanian Swamy

Statement of Dr. Subramanian Swamy, President of the Janata Party

The proposal of the NCP leader Mr. Praful Patel to support Ms. Sonia Gandhi or Mr. Rahul Gandhi for the post of Prime Minister after the next General Elections to the Lok Sabha, is laughable and unimplementable.

Under the reciprocity  proviso to Section 5 of the Citizenship Act, Ms.Sonia Gandhi is ineligible for the post of Prime Minister of India because in Italy Indian taking Italian citizenship cannot  become the Prime Minister and hence on reciprocity, Italians becoming Indian citizens cannot become Prime Minister of India. It was this proviso which was responsible for the somersault of Ms. Sonia Gandhi, from staking the claim for  Prime Ministership on 16th May, 2004, and then withdrawing the same in favour of Dr. Manmohan Singh on May 18th, 2004. Although this proviso has since been deleted by the then outgoing NDA Government, it is however illegal because the said deletion was carried out on an Act passed in  January 2004 for NRIs. Under the Objects and Reasons of the Bill moved in Parliament to enact this law does not empower the Government to delete the said proviso to Section 5 of the Citizenship Act. Hence if Ms. Sonia Gandhi stakes her claim to the Prime Ministership of India it is subject to challenge in court along with the challenge to the deletion of the said  proviso to the Citizenship Act.

As far as Mr. Rahul Gandhi is concerned, he was born when his mother was still an Italian citizen and hence his name  was under Italian Citizenship Act automatically entered in the Citizenship Register maintained by the Italian Government and the Italian Embassy in New Delhi.  Mr. Gandhi has never renounced his Italian citizenship and hence the legality of  his Indian citizenship can also be challenged since  India does not recognize dual citizenship. 

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