The New Indian Express received a legal notice from lawyers representing Mr Rahul Gandhi objecting to a column in the ‘Express’ titled ‘Rahul Gandhi - Spin Doctor’ dated April 11, 2009, and demanding an apology. The column is a comment based on a news report published on the ‘Express’ front page dated April 7, 2009, and titled ‘The truth about Rahul’s MPhil.’ It stated that Mr Gandhi’s election affidavit wrongly mentioned that his MPhil was in Development Economics, whereas it was actually in Development Studies; and that Mr Gandhi had not obtained pass marks in one of his papers, National Economic Planning & Policy (pass percentage is 60, he received 58 per cent). The report was published with a certificate from the Development Studies Committee, with the details of Mr Gandhi’s marks. None of these facts have been challenged.
The legal notice does not challenge our report that there is error in Mr Gandhi’s affidavit.
It is only the comment which has been challenged.
We confirm that we have enough documentary proof to support what we have written about Mr Gandhi’s qualification, and we stand by our report.