New Delhi [India], February 18 : Union Parliamentary Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday criticised Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, calling his behaviour "childish" and "irresponsible," after his recent political controversies.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, the Union Parliamentary Affairs leader said, "His behaviour is childish and irresponsible for someone in his position... A Leader of the Opposition represents the whole opposition... Going outside the House, calling people traitors, staging theatrical sit-ins and insisting on reading from an unpublished book, all this is child-like behaviour... We have never seen such a LoP in the history of India."
"Rahul Gandhi has become the most dangerous person for India's security. Because he associates with anti-India forces. He meets people abroad and at home, Naxalites, extremists, ideologues, people like George Soros," Rijiju added.
The Minister further accused the Congress party of not acting according to Parliament traditions and disrupting proceedings.
"Parliamentary democracy will always have noise and commotion: every party has its own agenda and will try to press it in the House. That in itself isn't automatically a failure... But along with the commotion, we have to look at the actions that are being taken. When in opposition, we did not throw papers at the Speaker, carry banners to the ruling side, and this is the reason why I am upset," he said.
"Congress had strong leaders who used to have maturity in their speech and work. Slowly, though, Congress has become like Rahul Gandhi and those who revolve around him have also become like him. We could not have imagined Congress becoming like this: continuing the same leader even after losing three times in a row. A BJP leader would not remain a leader after losing three times," he added.
Earlier this month, Rahul Gandhi had been at the forefront of Congress led protest in parliament. He also tried to quote from a former Army Chief General MM Naravane's (Retd) unpublished book during his Lok Sabha speech, with the treasury benches opposing him.
Gandhi also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government of misleading the country over tariff provisions in the India-US interim trade agreement, alleging that the deal would adversely impact India's cotton farmers and textile exporters.
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