Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi encountered another technical glitch on Tuesday while addressing an event on the Constitution. During his speech, which began with him displaying a copy of the Constitution, Gandhi criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the PM had never read the document.
Microphone stops working for around 10 minutes
However, midway through his address, the microphone stopped working for approximately 10 minutes. Leaders on stage scrambled to resolve the issue as Gandhi stood at the podium with a smile. Once the glitch was resolved, Rahul Gandhi used the incident to highlight a broader point, stating that he would not be silenced.
“In this country, for the last 3,000 years, whoever talks about Dalits, tribals, backward classes, poor, his mic gets switched off. When the mic was switched off, a lot of people came and told me to go and sit. I said I will not sit, I will stand. Switch off the mic as much as you want, I will speak whatever I want to,” he asserted, drawing supportive chants from the audience.
Rahul Gandhi speaks about Rohith Vemula
Pointing to a photograph of Rohith Vemula behind him, Gandhi added, “He wanted to speak but his voice was taken away,” referencing the Dalit scholar who died by suicide in 2016, an incident that sparked widespread protests.
This marks the second time in a week that Rahul Gandhi has faced such a situation. Five days earlier, during a press conference on Gautam Adani’s alleged indictment in the United States, a power outage interrupted his address. Once power was restored, Gandhi remarked wryly, “Adani power, Modi power, don’t know which power it is. But both of them are one.”
Is Modi government silencing Rahul Gandhi?
Responding to the power outage incident, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed it might have been orchestrated internally by the Congress. “Rahul Gandhi keeps repeating the same thing in press conferences. There was a power cut during his press conference for which he again blamed Adani and PM Modi. It’s his office, his electricity… I think his own people must have cut the power. I think Jairam Ramesh must have cut the power,” Patra remarked.
The latest microphone glitch comes amidst the ongoing Parliament winter session. The Congress has previously accused the Speaker and the Modi government of silencing Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha by switching off his microphone during his statements.
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