On Friday, February 24, Himanta Biswa Sarma, chief minister of Assam, said that Congress leader Pawan Khera had “tendered an unconditional apology” for his allegedly offensive remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sarma also stated that Assam Police will pursue the case to its logical conclusion.
Taking to Twitter, the Assam CM shared a copy of the writ petition filed by Pawan Khera in the Supreme Court and wrote, “The majesty of law shall always prevail. The accused has tendered an unconditional apology (Para 7) We hope that keeping the sanctity of public spaces, no one will use uncivilized language in political discourse hereafter. @assampolice will follow the matter to its logical end.”
This comes after the Supreme Court bench presided by CJI DY Chandrachud granted interim bail to Pawan Khera. CJI Chandrachud said that Pawan Khera will be released on interim bail by the magistrate in order to protect him till the day he applied for regular bail before the jurisdictional court and the next hearing would be slated for February 28.
Defending party leader Pawan Khera, Singhvi said to the Supreme Court today that it was a word play and that he personally should have refrained from using it. Singhvi claimed it was a slip of the tongue adding that he has already apologized for his mistake.
“I genuinely got confused that whether it is Gautamdas or Damodardas”.. he also apologized and said this was a mistake… Please protect him from arrest,” Singhvi said.
Notably, at 11:30 pm on Monday, Indian National Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera made the remarks against the Prime Minister at a press conference in Delhi. PM Modi’s full name is Narendra Damodardas Modi. Pawan Khera, while accusing Narendra Modi of favoring businessman Gautam Adani, called him Narendra Gautamdas Modi. He further said that his full name is Narendra Damodardas Modi but his actions are like Gautamdas (literally meaning a servant of Gautam). Cases were registered by BJP leaders against the Congress spokesperson in Lucknow and Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh.