Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Thursday slammed the Congress for maintaining a 'double standard' on the issue of internet shutdowns across the country, and claimed that internet services in Congress-ruled Rajasthan were disrupted four times in the last month.
Addressing a press conference here, Rathore lashed out on Congress and said, "Congress repeatedly says that freedom of expression has been hindered in Jammu and Kashmir, but are there incidents of terror in Rajasthan that internet has been shut down 4 times in last 1 month? Nowhere are there as many double standards as there are in Congress."
Refering to Rahul Gandhi's tweet on "December 19, 2019" that read "This government has no right to shut down colleges, internet and telephone. I believe that it is an insult to the soul of India," the BJP leader said, "At the same time, the internet has been stopped four times in the last one month in Rajasthan."
Rathore then shared data of internet shutdown in the BJP-led states over the last ten years, as compared to that in Rajasthan.
"In the last 10 years, only 29 internet shutdowns have taken place in UP, 17 in Haryana, 13 in West Bengal, 10 in Gujarat, and 11 in Bihar and Maharashtra. However, in Rajasthan, it has happened 78 times in the same time period," he claimed.
Slamming the Rajasthan government, the BJP leader said, "They say that they're shutting down the internet to stop leakage of test papers and to prevent cheating. However, in the last 5 exams held in the last 1.5 years, leakages and cheatings have taken place at a mass level."
He alleged that some Ministers of the Rajasthan government are "do not come to the office for days". "The Health Minister is not participating in important health-related meetings. Due to their internal tussle, the people of Rajasthan are suffering a lot," he further alleged.
The Rajasthan Government yesterday suspended mobile internet, bulk SMS and access to social media services in parts of the state, due to RPSC RAS preliminary examination.
The mobile internet services, including social media services, remained suspended from 9 am to 1 pm in the Jaipur Commissionerate area on Wednesday. However, the broadband and lase lines remained operational.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor