New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the BJP government, likening the proposed legislation that enables removal of elected leaders facing allegations to “returning to medieval times.” Speaking in the House, Gandhi said, “There is a lot of action going on about the new Bill that the BJP is proposing. We are going back to medieval times when the king could just remove anybody at will. There’s no concept of what an elected person is. He doesn’t like your face, so he tells ED to put a case, and then a democratically elected person is wiped out within 30 days.”
Gandhi also linked the controversy around the Bill with the sudden resignation of the Vice President of India. He alleged that the development had deeper implications than were being made public. “The day the Vice President resigned, Venugopal ji called me and said, the Vice President is gone. There’s a big story about why he resigned. Some of you might know it, some of you might not, but there’s a story behind it, and then there’s a story about why he’s in hiding,” Gandhi said.
Continuing his attack, the Congress leader questioned the silence of the former Vice President. “Why is the Vice President of India in a situation where he cannot say a word? Suddenly, the person who used to burst forth in the Rajya Sabha has gone silent, completely silent. So this is the time we’re living in,” he remarked.
The BJP has dismissed Gandhi’s comments as an attempt to create unnecessary suspicion and to divert attention from the government’s legislative agenda.
