The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday said that a technical correction is being made mentioning Union Minister V Muraleedharan's name as the minister who replied to a question regarding proposals to designate Palestinian militant outfit Hamas as a terror organisation.

“We have noted that Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 980 answered on December 8 needs a technical correction in terms of reflecting V Muraleedharan as the Minister of State replying to the Parliament question. This is being suitably undertaken,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, as quoted by news agency ANI. 

The clarification from External Affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi came after Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi said that she did not approve any answer to the question. Both Lekhi and Muraleedharan are ministers of state in the MEA. 

Lekhi responded to the document and denied signing the reply to the Parliament question. Taking to her official X handle,  Lekhi tagged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and wrote, "You have been misinformed as I have not signed any paper with this question and this answer Dr S Jaishankar, PMO India."

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The question, whose response has been attributed to Lekhi, was raised by Congress MP K Sudhakaran. The Ministry of External Affairs was questioned about whether the Indian government had any proposals to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization in India and if the Israeli government raised any such demand with the Centre. 

"Designation of an organisation as terrorist is covered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and declaring any organisation as terrorist is considered as per the provisions of the Act by the relevant government departments," the response to Sudhakaran’s query reads. 

When it was mentioned that the websites of the Lok Sabha and the MEA  had the answer to the question mentioned in her name, Lekhi said an "inquiry will reveal the culprit".


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