Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his remark that the "Opposition leaders' microphones are often switched off in Parliament" saying that it is Rahul Gandhi who speaks the most in Parliament.
"Be it Rahul Gandhi or others, they keep abusing the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi from dawn to dusk. The one who speaks the most says that they are not allowed to speak," said Rijiju to reporters.
The Congress leader made this remark while addressing British MPs in the UK Parliament in London.
Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh also slammed the Congress leader and termed his statement "absolutely false and baseless".
"...I'd like to say it was absolutely false, baseless. Nothing can be more false than this. I have been in Parliament for the past nine years and not once have I heard anything like that from anyone..." Harivansh told ANI.
"As far as I know, no one has ever said like this neither inside the Parliament nor outside...nothing can be more unverified than this," he further added.
In the UK, Rahul Gandhi continued his attack against the BJP-led government at the Centre.
In Cambridge, the Congress MP again alleged that the Opposition's voice was being stifled in parliament.
Earlier, in a conversation with members of the Indian Journalists' Association in London, the Wayanad MP called the recent raids conducted at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offices across India a "suppression of voice", alleging that BJP under its "new Idea of India" wants India to be "silent".
"You know every place there is Opposition, there is an excuse. You asked why we did the yatra, what was the idea behind the yatra. The idea behind the yatra was an expression of voice. And there is suppression of voice across the country. An example is the BBC, but BBC is just one element of it," he said.
The Congress leader said that BJP wants India to be "silent" under the "new Idea of India".
"If the BBC stops writing against the government, everything will go back to normal, all the cases will disappear, everything (will) go back to normal. So this is the new Idea of India. BJP wants India to be silent. They want it to be quiet, the Dalits, the lower castes, the Adivasis, the media they want silence, and they want silence because they want to be able to take what is India's and give it to their close friends," he said.
He further added, "So that's basically the idea right, distract the population, and then hand over India's wealth to two, three, four, five big people. I mean we have seen this, we have seen this before also, but that's not something."
On being asked about the allegations of "defaming India on foreign soil" Rahul Gandhi said, "There's nothing defaming India in my Cambridge lecture."
( With inputs from ANI )
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