Karti Chidamabaram writes to LS Speaker over 'breach of parliamentary privilege'
New Delhi(PTI): Congress MP Karti Chidamabaram on Friday wrote to Lok Speaker Speaker Om Birla alleging that during a raid CBI officers seized "highly confidential" personal notes and papers pertaining to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology of which he is a member, and sought redressal for what he said was a "breach of his parliamentary privilege".
In a letter to Birla, Karti Chidambaram also said that over the course of the past few years, his family and he himself have become targets of a "relentless campaign by the present government and its investigating agencies which are trying to silence our voices of dissent by foisting one fake case after another".
Such "targeted intimidation" of a member of the House amounts to a breach of privilege, the MP from Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga constituency said.
Karti Chidambara's letter to Birla comes amid his questioning by the CBI. He appeared before the CBI for the second day on Friday to answer queries related to allegations of bribe in issuance of visas to 263 Chinese workers in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the home minister, officials said.
Earlier this month, CBI teams had conducted coordinated search operations at 10 locations in multiple cities in the country, including residences of the Chidambarams in Chennai and Delhi.
"I am writing to you now because I have become the victim of a grossly illegal and patently unconstitutional action," Karti Chidambaram said in his letter to Birla.
"The Central Bureau of Investigation in the garb of conducting an investigation into an 11-year-old decision of the Government in which I have absolutely no involvement raided my residence in Delhi," he said.
In the course of this so-called raid, certain officers of the CBI seized my "highly confidential and sensitive personal notes and papers" pertaining to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Information and Technology, Karti Chidambaram alleged.
"Shockingly, even my draft notes and questions which I had intended to ask witnesses summoned to the Committee, were also seized," he alleged.
He claimed that his handwritten notes pertaining to the depositions made to the Committee by witnesses were also seized for reasons best known to the Agency.
Karti Chidambaram alleged that these actions by the CBI, in so far as they relate to "interference with my duties as a Parliamentarian, amount to a direct assault upon democratic principles on which our Parliament is founded".
"I, therefore, urge you to take immediate cognizance of this issue, which is a brazen breach of my Parliamentary privilege," he said in the letter.
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Old video from a fair in Uttarakhand shared as 'stone pelting at Mahakumbh'
The Verdict False
The video dates back to 2024 and shows a tradition at the Bagwal Mela held in Uttarakhand.
What is the claim?
A video of two groups of people seemingly fighting and throwing things at each other is going viral on social media. Posts sharing the video have alleged that it shows an incident from the ongoing Hindu religious festival Mahakumbh that began on January 13 and is taking place in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj.
The video has inlaid text which reads in Hindi, "Visuals from Mahakumbh." Several social media users shared the video pointing out that men in saffron clothes were also involved in the incident. Archive to the posts can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.
Screenshots of similar viral social media posts. (Source: X/YouTube//Modified by Logically Facts)
Kumbh Mela is a religious pilgrimage that is celebrated four times over 12 years. It is the largest gathering of Hindus, where ascetics, saints, and pilgrims from all walks of life come to the holy confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers to take a dip.
However, the video is unrelated to the ongoing Mahakumbh fest and actually shows a tradition at a mela (fair) held in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand's Champawat district.
What are the facts?
Through a reverse image search, we found a video posted on Instagram (archived here) by a user on August 20, 2024, claiming that the video is from the Bagwal festival. Another user (archived here) also shared it on October 9 with the same caption.
Newsflare, an online news video community, also posted a video from the fair on August 19, 2024, titled "Hit me with your best shot; Devidhura stone-pelting festival leaves hundreds injured in Northern India". We were able to match the banner, light posts, the arch-like structure, and other small details in this clip to the viral video. The website wrote in the description of the video that Bagwal Mela is a festival marked by throwing stones. Villagers of Devidhura celebrate the festival by engaging in battle with stones, sticks and shields, the description added.
Comparison of video frames from the viral video to video by Newsflare. (Source: X/Newsflare/Modified by Logically Facts)
We also found a news report by Hindi-language daily Jagran published on August 20, 2024. The report carried a few images from the fair which matched the viral clip.
Comparison of video frames from the viral video to images by Jagran News.(Source: X/Jagran News/Modified by Logically Facts)
They wrote that fruits and stones were pelted for around 11 minutes during the festival, which led to 212 being injured. ABP News also reported on the event and wrote that people from both sides attacked each other with fruits and stones. The game is not only a competition but also a cultural and religious tradition, the report noted. Eleven quintals of apples and peas were reportedly used during the ritual, according to The Times of India.
What is the Bagwal Mela?
The fair is organized during the preparations for the Indian festival of Rakshabandhan in the Champawat district of Uttarakhand. The term ‘Bagwal’ means ‘fight with stones.’ The festival includes four clans, known as Khams—Chamyal, Walik, Gaharwal, and Lamgadiya, who engage in a battle. Initially, the ritual involved pelting each other with stones, but later, in 2013, the court stopped it and replaced it with fruits and flowers.
The verdict
The video of people pelting things at each other is not from Mahakumbh 2025. It shows a ritual from the 2024 Bagwal Mela, held in Uttarakhand during Rakshabandhan.
(This story was originally published by logicallyfacts.com, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
