Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, on a week-long tour of the UK, addressed British MPs in London on Monday and criticized the Modi government. The Congress MP claimed that functioning microphones in the Lok Sabha are often silenced against the opposition.
Speaking at an event hosted by Virendra Sharma, the opposition party MP of Indian descent, at the Grand Committee Room in the House of Commons complex, Gandhi shared experiences of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which he described as a “deeply political exercise in mass mobilization”.
On a lighter note, he used a faulty microphone in the room to make his point about what he described as a “suffocating” opposition debate in India.
“Our microphones aren’t broken, they’re working, but you still can’t turn them on. That has happened to me a number of times as I speak,” the 52-year-old Wayanad MP told the gathering, responding to a question about sharing his experience as a politician in India with his counterparts in Britain.
“Demonetization, which was a disastrous financial decision, we weren’t allowed to discuss. We were not allowed to discuss GST. We were not allowed to discuss Chinese troops entering Indian territory. I remember a Parliament where there were lively discussions, heated debates, arguments and disagreements, but we had a conversation. And that, frankly, is what we lack in Parliament. We must use debates to fit into other debates. There is a suffocation going on,” he said.
Gandhi explains why the UPA government failed
At another event, a talk session at the Chatham House think tank on Monday evening to conclude his week-long tour of the UK, Gandhi also pointed to the lack of focus from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. on a shifting nature of the political discourse in India as the main factor behind its failure.
BJP likes to believe it will be in power forever: Gandhi
BJP likes to believe it will be in power in India forever, but that is not the case, and to say the Congress is “gone” is a ridiculous notion, opposition lawmaker Rahul Gandhi said in London on Monday.
“To put it in perspective, if you look at the time from independence to now, the Congress party has been in power most of the time,” he said.
“Before the BJP was in power for 10 years, we were in power for 10 years. The BJP likes to believe that they have come to power in India and they will be in power forever, that is not the case,” he said. the Congress leader added.
Gandhi, the MP from Kerala’s Wayanad, pointed to a series of changes in India that caught Congress and the UPA government off guard, such as a shift from rural to urban.
“We focused a lot on the rural space and we missed the ball on the urban space in the beginning, that’s a fact. Those things are there. But to say that the BJP is in power and the Congress is gone, that’s actually a ridiculous idea,” he said.
BJP strikes back at Gandhi
The BJP has accused Gandhi of defaming India on foreign soil while praising China. Union Minister Anurag Thakur lashed out at Gandhi on Monday for his remarks and asked the congress leader not to betray the nation.
Read also: Rahul Gandhi has taken on a contract to discredit India from abroad: Anurag Thakur denounces Congress leader
“Don’t betray India, Rahul Gandhi ji. The objections to India’s foreign policy are proof of your poor understanding of the issue. No one will believe the lies you spread about India from foreign soil,” Thakur told reporters in New Delhi .
Thakur said Gandhi has resorted to “slandering India” from foreign soil as part of a conspiracy to cover up his failures. “Rahul Gandhi has become a storm of controversy. Be it from foreign agencies, foreign channels or foreign soil. He never misses an opportunity to defame India,” Thakur said.
During the meeting Lord Navnit Dholakia, a fellow of Indian descent, asked Gandhi about the track record of the Congress party, which the former Congress president blamed on a “propaganda machine” that does not reflect a “strong undercurrent” against the government .
He also pointed out that the Congress had successfully “ruled the country for many, many years” and rejected what he called a flawed media narrative against the opposition party’s electoral prospects going forward.
(With PTI input)
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