On Wednesday (December 8), Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his address to the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajasthan alleged that he is not allowed to speak in the parliament and that the Lok Sabha TV that covers parliament sessions that do not give space to the opposition.
Rahul Gandhi went on to claim that whenever he attempted to raise issues like demonetization, GST and China, the mics were turned off. He also alleged that the Lok Sabha TV cameras never show opposition leaders.
“Our mics are turned off when we want to speak on China issue, demonetization or GST. Speaker (Om Birla) is from Rajasthan, they show his face 24 hours,” Gandhi said in Kota.
Rajasthan | When we want to speak in Parliament on demonetisation, GST or China issue, our mics are turned off, camera never comes towards us. ‘Speaker is from Rajasthan’, Lok Sabha TV likes his face, throughout 24 hrs they show only his face: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Kota pic.twitter.com/kQ4yNhiL2c
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) December 7, 2022
Rahul Gandhi accused RSS and BJP of suppressing the institutions meant to defend democracy.
“India is a democratic country, with separate institutions defending and protecting democracy. Assembly, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, judiciary, media… all of these institutions have been suppressed by the BJP and the RSS,” the Wayanad MP said.
Interestingly, on Sunday, Congress leader KC Venugopal in a press conference said that it would not be practical for Rahul Gandhi to attend the Winter Session of the parliament as he will be busy with Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Winter Session of the Parliament is in progress and Rahul Gandhi is skipping it.
Rahul Gandhi has a record of low attendance in parliament
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘seriousness’ about speaking on issues that concern the common people is evident in the fact that despite being an elected Member of Parliament, Gandhi chose to carry on with his party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra campaign than do his duty as an elected representative of the people.
OpIndia checked the official data of Rahul Gandhi’s participation in the Lok Sabha proceedings, to confirm if the Wayanad MP was actually not allowed to speak in the parliament. As per the official data, Rahul Gandhi has participated in 5 debates since 2019, and asked 81 questions with 56% attendance which is far below the national average of 79%.
The number of questions asked (81), and the number of private member bills brought (0) by the Wayanad MP are far below the national average.
The part-time politician and full-time traveller, Rahul Gandhi has a history of going on foreign vacations during important events in the country.
Last year, when political parties were gearing up for the elections in five states, Rahul Gandhi went on a ‘brief personal visit’ due to which his rally in Punjab was cancelled.
In December 2020, he left for Italy on the 136th foundation day of his party. His party leaders could not settle on one explanation and made themselves a target for opposition and the media over the absence of their dear leader. In October 2019, fifteen days before the assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, Gandhi had left, reportedly for Bangkok.
In November 2019, Congress planned up to 35 press conferences across the country to protest the union government’s policies, but Gandhi, who allegedly gave the orders for the press conferences, skipped them himself.
From missing budget sessions in 2018 to disappearing for trips to Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam in 2015, the Congress leader seemingly prefers travel to speaking in parliament.
