Can turn off my mic but not voice of students: Rahul Gandhi

Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, 29 July alleged that the BJP prevented him from speaking in Parliament after he sought to raise the issue of the alleged crackdown on student protesters in Delhi and hold Union home minister Amit Shah accountable.

In a social media post, Gandhi claimed the ruling party muted his microphone after he named Shah while speaking on the issue. 'Today, during my speech in Parliament, I raised the issue of the brutality inflicted on students in Delhi and named the one responsible — Home Minister Amit Shah. The BJP did not let me speak,' Gandhi wrote.

He added that he would address a press conference to say what he was not allowed to say in the House. 'They can turn off the microphone, but not 'Chhatron ki Goonj' (voice of students, also the name given to a series of ongoing events organised by the Congress)," he said.

Later, speaking to reporters in the Parliament House complex, Gandhi questioned Shah's absence from the House and said there were only two possible explanations for the alleged police firing on protesters. "There can be just two options — the home minister gave the order for firing, or the home minister did not know that there would be firing," he said. "In the first case, he is culpable. In the second case, he is incompetent. There can be no other option."

Questioning why Shah had not responded in Parliament, Gandhi said, "Why is he not coming to the House? Supposedly the brave home minister of India, why is he not in the House? If he has not done anything, why is he not coming? It is my right to speak in Parliament and I should have this right."

The Congress has been demanding that Shah make a statement in Parliament over the recent police action — including the use of pellet guns in Delhi and brandishing of an AK-47 rifle in Patna — against youth protesters in Delhi and elsewhere demanding the resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan (who has since resigned), an issue that has repeatedly disrupted proceedings in both Houses.

With PTI inputs