New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh has responded to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's statement that 'voices of opposition leaders are muted in Parliament'. He denied the claim adding that it is absolutely 'false and baseless'. Harivansh said that he has never heard anything like this from anyone in his career.
He told ANI, "...I'd like to say it's absolutely false, baseless. Nothing can be more false than this. I've been in Parliament for past 9 year and not once have I heard anything like that from anyone."
He added that the Indian Parliament is being run with the same principles and traditions that it followed in 1952 ( when the first Lok Sabha was constituted after independence). He said, "As far as I know, it is completely wrong, I have not heard this from anyone ever."
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is currently on a 10-day visit to the United Kingdom, said on Monday that microphones in the Lok Sabha were often "silenced" against the Opposition. While addressing a group of UK MPs in the Grand Committee Room within the House of Commons, Rahul was seen using a faulty microphone in the room to drive home his point that Opposition voices were being "stifled" in India, PTI reported.
"Our mikes are not out of order, they are functioning, but you still can't switch them on. That's happened to me a number of times while I am speaking," the former Congress chief told the UK MPs when asked on his experience of being a politician in India.
Gandhi said issues like demonetisation, which he called a "disastrous financial decision", and GST were not allowed to be discussed in Parliament.
"Chinese troops entering Indian territory we were not allowed to discuss. I remember a Parliament where there were vibrant discussions, heated debates, arguments, disagreements but we had a conversation. And, that's frankly what we miss in Parliament. We have to use debates to fit in other debates. There is a stifling that is going on," he said.